Omar Rashid 
New Delhi: A Mughal-era mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district was on Tuesday (November 19) surveyed by an advocate commissioner on the orders of a local civil court which acted on a petition filed by Hindu activists claiming the Islamic religious site was originally a prominent Hindu temple dedicated to an avatar of Vishnu.
The managing committee of the Shahi Jama Masjid as well as the local Muslim population were astounded by the tearing hurry displayed by the advocate commissioner Ramesh Raghav in initiating the survey proceedings within a few hours after the court’s directions.
Photography and videography of the mosque premises were carried out during the survey which lasted for one and a half to two hours, according to different sources. The proceedings were carried out in the presence of the district magistrate and the district police chief.
Civil judge senior division Aditya Singh directed the survey of the mosque after an application was filed by eight plaintiffs, led by pro-Hindutva lawyer Hari Shankar Jain and Hindu seer Mahant Rishiraj Giri, as part of a civil suit claiming right for access into the mosque.
The mosque, claimed to have been built on the directions of the first Mughal emperor Babar, is acknowledged as a “historic monument” on the official website of the Sambhal district. The Hindu petitioners, however, claimed that the mosque was the site of an ancient temple dedicated to Kalki, the prophesised final incarnation of Vishnu. In 1529, Babar partly demolished the Hari Hari temple and tried to convert it into a mosque, said Vishnu Shankar Jain, lawyer and the son of the chief plaintiff Hari Shankar Jain.
While accepting the plea of the Hindu plaintiffs to get the mosque surveyed by an advocate commissioner, the court said, “The submission of a report of the site might facilitate the court to adjudicate the suit.”
Also read: Arson, Loot and ‘Unidentified’ Vandals: How Muslims Were Targeted in Bahraich
Zafar Ali, an advocate representing the mosque, said the survey went on for two hours. “No objectionable object was found during the survey. There was nothing that could have created a doubt. This has made it clear that the Shahi Jama Masjid is indeed a mosque,” Ali said.
The lawyer said the survey was carried out immediately after the court order came in as the advocate commissioner had a personal engagement, his daughter’s wedding, to cater to in the coming days.
A copy of the civil judge senior division Sambhal order directing a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid by an advocate commissioner. The court passed the order on an application by some Hindu plaintiffs who claim that the mosque was the site of an old Kalki (avatar of Vishnu) temple.
According to a source, the court passed its order at around 3:30 pm while the advocate commissioner’s survey began at 7 pm. “It was conducted without giving us an opportunity to file objections or without holding the necessary peace meetings in the area so that no untoward incident takes place,” said a lawyer associated with the mosque.
During the survey, the boundaries of the mosque and store rooms that were locked were also inspected, said Ali. stressing that the caretakers of the mosque fully cooperated with the court-appointed commissioner.
Vishnu Shankar Jain, lawyer for the Hindu plaintiffs, said further surveys would continue as many features of the mosque were yet to be studied. This was a “non-invasive survey,” stressed Jain.
He alleged that Babur had partly demolished the original site in 1529. “It is believed that Kalki avatar is to happen at Sambhal,” said Jain, claiming that there were several signs and symbols of the Hari Har Mandir inside the mosque.
In their suit, the plaintiffs said that the mosque was a monument protected under Section 3 (3) of the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904. They claimed that they were being “denied access” to the mosque, described by them as “subject property,” as the Archaeological Survey of India had not taken any steps for entry of the general public as mentioned in the provisions of Section 18 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
The plaintiffs claimed that the site was a centuries-old Har Hari Temple dedicated to Kalki and was being “used forcibly and unlawfully” by the Jama Masjid caretaking committee.
Zia-ur-Rehman Barq, Samajwadi Party (SP) MP from Sambhal, raised concern over the hurried manner in which the advocate commissioner’s survey was initiated. “We were not given any notice. Our reply was not sought. They carried it in a hurried manner. But there was no emergency or anything urgent,” Barq told reporters outside the mosque.
Also read: History Will Record the Helping Hand Many Judges Lent When Indian Secularism Was Being Demolished
Barq said that the mosque was protected by The Place of Worship Act, 1991. “Despite this, some people want to spoil the atmosphere of the state and the country,” he said.
The SP leader underlined that the Jama Masjid was a Muslim place of worship. “They will not find anything even the size of a needle which can be called objectionable. This was a mosque, is a mosque and will remain a mosque,” said Barq.
Rajender Pensiya, district magistrate Sambhal, said the administration and the police were present during the survey proceedings to provide security.
According to a British-era gazetteer published in 1891, ‘The Monumental Antiquities and Inscriptions, in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh’, the Hindu claim on the mosque existed even then. The document said that the Muslims ascribed the erection of the building to the time of Babur and point to an inscription inside the mosque, which records the constriction of the site by Mir Hindu Beg in the year 933 as per the Islamic calendar, which corresponds to the year 1526.
The Hindus, however, claimed that the inscription was a forgery of a later date, said the gazetteer. “At or on the back of this slab, they say that there is the original Sanskrit inscription belonging to the temple,” the gazetteer said.
Commenting on the issue, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi said the Babri Masjid judgement has emboldened Hindutva groups to target Muslim places of worship across India.
Referring to the Sambhal survey, Owaisi underlined that within three hours of the application being submitted, the civil judge ordered an initial survey at the mosque site to find out if a temple had been demolished to build the mosque.
“The application was made by a lawyer who is the UP govt’s standing counsel in SC. The survey was carried out on the same day. This is how Babri’s locks were also opened within an hour of the court order, without even hearing the other side,” wrote Owaisi on his X handle.