Supreme Court to hear Sambhal mosque-temple dispute today
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Monday consider a plea by the Muslim side challenging a lower court order for a survey of Shahi Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district.
Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe will hear the case, as listed on the apex court's website.
The mosque committee opposes the survey amid claims by Hindu plaintiffs that the structure was built atop a pre-existing temple. The top court had earlier directed both sides to maintain status quo at the site while hearing a special leave petition against the Allahabad High Court's refusal to stay proceedings.
The Hindu side alleges the mosque occupies the ruins of an ancient Harihar temple demolished in the Mughal era. The mosque committee contests the suit's maintainability and the survey order's procedure.
Tensions escalated when the Allahabad High Court upheld the Chandousi trial court's directive, dismissing the mosque committee's stay plea. The committee then approached the Supreme Court, arguing it was passed without adequate hearing and against legal norms.
The case gains importance under the Places of Worship Act, 1991, which preserves religious character as on 15 August 1947. The Hindu side argues it falls outside this, citing the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
Violence had previously erupted in Sambhal during an earlier survey, causing fatalities. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) submits that the mosque, a centrally protected monument, cannot be deemed a place of public worship without records.
(Inputs from IANS)