Sambhal violence: HC grants bail to president of Mughal-era mosque | Prayagraj News

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court has granted bail to the president of Sambhal Jama Masjid, Zafar Ali, who was arrested after the violence, which took place during the survey of the Mughal-era mosque in November last year. Zafar Ali, who is also a lawyer, was arrested in March 2025 after violent protests in November 2024 linked to a controversial mosque survey that resulted in four deaths. He was accused of being involved in the violence during the survey at Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal.The single bench of Justice Sameer Jain passed the above order on Thursday.An FIR was lodged in this connection at Kotwali Sambahl against Samajwadi Party (SP) member of Parliament (MP) from Sambhal Zia ur Rahman Barq and Sambhal’s SP MLA Iqbal Mahmood’s son Sohail Iqbal. Later, the HC stayed the arrest of Barq but refused to quash the FIR against him.During the course of hearing, it was argued on behalf of the applicant that the mosque’s head Zafar Ali’s name was not included in the first information report (FIR) lodged in this connection. However, the police arrested Zafar Ali during the investigation on March 23, 2025, on the charges of inciting violence during the survey. Zafar Ali is lodged in Moradabad jail.This Sambhal mosque gained attention when unrest occurred in the district on Nov 24, 2024, following a survey of this Mughal-era mosque by a team led by an advocate commissioner under local court orders. The violence, where protesters opposing the survey of the Jama Masjid clashed with security personnel, resulted in the deaths of four persons. The protesters torched vehicles and pelted the police with stones while the security personnel used tear gas and batons to disperse the mob.Later, the UP govt constituted a three-member judicial commission, comprising retired Allahabad HC judge Devendra Kumar Arora, retired IAS officer Amit Mohan Prasad and retired IPS officer Arvind Kumar Jain to inquire into the incident.