UP police challenge court order, refuse FIR against police over Sambhal shooting

The Sambhal police challenged Chief Judicial Magistrate Vibhanshu Sudhir’s order in respect of filing an FIR against police officials who were allegedly involved in the shooting during the commotion linked with the survey of a mosque on a plea by the father of a victim who alleged that his son was denied treatment over police instructions that no one injured in the violence should be treated.

However, the police claimed that the order was illegal and that they would challenge it in a higher court while asserting that a judicial probe into the violence had already vindicated the police action, The Wire reported.

The controversy arose after Yameen, a resident of Sambhal, approached the local court alleging that his son Alam, who had stepped out on November 24, 2024 to set up his food stall, was shot twice in the back and once in the hand by policemen, including then circle officer Anuj Chaudhary and station house officer Anuj Kumar Tomar, during clashes that broke out over protests against a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid.

While Judge Sudhir on January 9 held that the circumstances disclosed a cognisable offence and directed that a case be registered, the Sambhal police announced that they would not lodge an FIR and would instead appeal against the order, with Superintendent of Police Krishan Kumar describing the directive as illegal and reiterating that a three-member judicial commission had already concluded that police action during the violence was correct.

The violence, which erupted amid claims by some Hindu activists that the mosque had been built over a temple, left at least four Muslim men dead, and although the police denied opening fire at protesters, Yameen, in his application, maintained that his son had suffered gunshot wounds.

He further stated that hospitals in Sambhal, Moradabad and Aligarh refused to treat Alam after being instructed by the police not to admit those injured in the clashes, forcing the family to keep him at home for three days before securing treatment in Meerut by concealing their address.

Although the police told the court that the bullet retrieved from Alam’s body was of a calibre not used by the force, the judge found the case suspicious as medical records described the injuries as gunshot wounds linked to police firing during a riot, while Alam’s family alleged that he was named as an accused only after the petition was filed.