Advocate Vishnu Sharma, representing the ASI, said on Sunday that the ASI had filed its reply on Friday, stating that it had faced resistance from the mosque’s management committee and local residents in surveying the site.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has filed its reply in the court seeking permission for survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid here, in which the ASI has requested to hand over the control and management of the Mughal era mosque as a protected heritage structure.
Advocate Vishnu Sharma, representing the ASI, said on Sunday that the ASI had filed its reply on Friday, stating that it had faced resistance from the mosque’s management committee and local residents in surveying the site.
He said that the reply also mentioned an incident of January 19, 2018 when a case was registered against the management committee of the mosque for arbitrarily installing steel railings on the stairs of the mosque.
Sharma said that Shahi Jama Masjid, notified as an ASI protected site since 1920, is under the jurisdiction of ASI, hence people should be allowed to enter the mosque by following the rules of ASI.
He told that ASI argues that the control and management of the building and the right to make any kind of structural change should remain with ASI only. Sharma said the ASI also expressed concern that unauthorized alterations to the structure of the mosque by the management committee were illegal and should be stopped.
The court is expected to deliberate on the matter in the coming days. On November 24, violence broke out in Sambhal during a survey of the royal Jama Masjid by the Advocate Commissioner on the orders of a local court, in which four people were killed.
The survey was ordered after hearing a petition which claimed that the Harihar temple once stood at the mosque site. A three-member judicial commission has been formed to investigate the violence and its members are likely to convene on Sunday.
The commission has been directed to complete the investigation in two months. Extension of this deadline will require government approval. Two members of the commission had reached Moradabad on Saturday itself.
Moradabad Divisional Commissioner Anjaneya Kumar Singh had said, “Two members of the commission constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government reached here on Saturday. The third member will join them on Sunday.” However, Singh did not reveal the names of the members who reached Moradabad on Saturday.
The commission, headed by retired Allahabad High Court judge Justice Devendra Kumar Arora, has former IAS officer Amit Mohan Prasad and retired IPS officer Arvind Kumar Jain as other members.
According to official sources, the commission will investigate whether the violent clashes on November 24 were spontaneous or part of a planned criminal conspiracy. Besides, the preparedness of the police and administration to handle the situation will also be examined. The commission will also analyze the circumstances leading to the violence and recommend measures to prevent such incidents in future.
