By Outlook News Desk
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered maintaining the status quo until August 25 in the Sambhal mosque dispute and issued notice to the Hindu petitioners.
A bench comprising Justices P. S. Narasimha and A. S. Chandurkar passed the direction while hearing an appeal filed by the mosque committee. The committee had challenged an Allahabad High Court ruling that upheld a Sambhal civil court’s order for a survey in the Shahi Jama Masjid–Harihar Temple dispute.
The Mughal-era mosque, which remains protected by ASI, has been mired in controversy since last November when communal violence broke out in Sambhal after a court-ordered survey. The survey was based on a petition claiming that a Harihar temple stood in the mosque’s stead.
The violence claimed four lives, injuring at least two dozen security personnel and administration officials, according to official reports.
Zafar Ali, president of the Shahi Jama Masjid, was arrested earlier this year in the case related to November violence. The bail hearing has since been deferred twice, once on March 27 and another on April 4, after Sambal police failed to produce critical evidence in court.
This story was originally published in outlookindia.com.
