Judicial panel submits report on Sambhal violence, flags 'demographic shift', 'riot plot'

Lucknow, Aug 28 (PTI) A three-member judicial panel probing the November 2024 Sambhal violence on Thursday submitted its 450-page report to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, with sources claiming the document flags a sharp demographic shift in the town, a plot to target Hindus, and the role of radical groups and outside rioters in the unrest.

The panel members, including retired Allahabad High Court judge Devendra Kumar Arora, former IPS officer Arvind Kumar Jain, and ex-IAS officer Amit Mohan Prasad, met the chief minister and submitted the report on the violence that erupted near the Shahi Jama Masjid on November 24 during an ASI-monitored survey of the mosque, claiming four lives and injuring several others.

The commission was set up on November 28, 2024. Its members visited Sambhal several times since December 1, when they first went to the violence-hit area to record witness statements.

"The judicial commission constituted to probe the Sambhal incident has submitted its report to the chief minister," Principal Secretary (Home), Sanjay Prasad, said.

About the details of the report, Prasad said, "We can tell more only after studying it. Further action will be taken accordingly." “Yes, we have submitted our report to the chief minister. It's a voluminous report,” panel member and former DGP Jain told PTI.

He, however, refused to disclose the contents of the report, calling them “confidential”.

Jain also didn't entertain queries on the authenticity of some reports claiming that, among other things, the report highlights a demographic shift leading to a dwindling Hindu population in Sambhal.

According to some reports, the document running into nearly 450 pages underlines how the Hindu population has now been reduced to around 15-20 per cent in Sambhal, less than half of what it used to be.

However, Jain said the panel members are not entitled to reveal the contents of the report, which will be tabled before the Cabinet and later in the Assembly as part of an established process.

The Sambhal dispute dates back to November 19 last year, when Hindu petitioners, including advocates Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Shankar Jain, filed a suit in the Sambhal district court claiming the Shahi Jama Masjid was built on a temple.

A court-ordered survey was conducted on the same day (November 19), followed by another on November 24. The second survey triggered significant unrest in the area, resulting in the death of four persons and injuries to 29 policemen.

Police booked Samajwadi Party MP Ziaur Rahman Barq and mosque committee head Zafar Ali in connection with the violence, besides registering an FIR against 2,750 unidentified persons.

BJP's Rajya Sabha MP and former DGP Brij Lal told PTI that he is confident the report will highlight the demographic shift in the western Uttar Pradesh town.

“I have been a senior police officer and served in various capacities across the state to know the reality. The reports suggesting a marked decline in the Hindu population will surely feature in the panel report. How can something so evident go unnoticed,” Brij Lal asked.

While the panel termed the report "confidential", some other members of the ruling BJP sounded confident that it contains how "Hindus were systematically targeted" in many communal riots in the region.

"Demographic change, as witnessed in Sambhal, is a huge threat to the country's security. The repeated communal riots in Sambhal, in which Hindus have been targeted and killed, led to the community's exodus from the town. The panel report also indicates the same," state BJP spokesman Rakesh Tripathi claimed.

Sources claimed the report suggests that Hindus have "consistently been made the primary target in every riot since 1947", and that there was a plot to target them again in the November 2024 flare-up.

According to government sources, the Uttar Pradesh Police has been credited in the report for preventing a "massacre" in Sambhal.

The report also notes that "rioters were brought in from outside" the district, and that “longstanding tensions between Turk and Pathan communities led to the internal clashes”, the sources claimed.

The report goes on to mention that the controversy surrounding the Harihar temple, on which the mosque was allegedly built, was further inflamed by invoking Babur's legacy, "which worsened the communal atmosphere", the sources claimed.

The report also highlights concerns about significant demographic changes in Sambhal since Independence, when Hindus made up 45 per cent of the municipal population (in Sambhal), the sources said.

According to the sources, the report states that while Hindus have been reduced to a “minuscule minority” in Sambhal (15 per cent), the Muslim population has grown “exponentially” (85 per cent).

According to the report, radical organisations, along with illegal arms and narcotics networks, were activated to destabilise the region. It also credited the state government for swiftly acting to control the situation, the sources said.

The report notes that Sambhal has a history of communal disturbances, starting with a deadly Shia-Sunni clash in 1953, followed by riots in 1956, 1959, and 1966.

In 1962, violence erupted after then Jan Sangh MLA Mahesh Gupta was stabbed by the members of a particular community, it says, according to the sources.

Another major flare-up occurred in 1976 when a mosque committee dispute led to a maulvi's murder. A rumour implicating Rajkumar Saini sparked retaliatory attacks on temples in Surajkund and Manas, leading to a week-long curfew, the sources added.

The report also mentions that in 2006, then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav drew criticism for recognising around two-dozen people involved in the 1976 riots as "democracy fighters", the sources said.

The report adds that in the past year, authorities cleared more than 1,000 illegal encroachments, reclaiming 68 hectares of land, and demolished 35 unauthorised religious structures to recover more than two hectares of land, they added. PTI ABN MAN KIS ARI