Supreme Court to hear Sambhal Shahi Jama Masjid row on Monday

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is slated to hear the dispute over the Shahi Jama Masjid–Sri Harihar Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal on Monday.

As per the computerised case status, a bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Atul S. Chandurkar will resume hearing on August 25 the special leave petition (SLP) filed by the mosque committee against the Allahabad High Court’s decision that had upheld a Chandousi court order for a survey of the disputed site.

In the previous hearing held on Friday, the Justice Narasimha-led Bench directed both the Muslim and Hindu parties to maintain the status quo until the next hearing.

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As the Hindu side argued that another bench of the Supreme Court has held that an ASI-protected monument does not fall under the Places of Worship Act, the bench asked advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain to place the said order on record and adjourned the hearing.

The SLP filed by the mosque committee challenged the prima facie finding of the Allahabad High Court that the suit was not barred by the Places of Worship Act, 1991, since it sought access to the disputed property under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.

In its impugned order, the Allahabad High Court dismissed the civil revision petition seeking a stay on the proceedings pending before the trial court.

The Shahi Jama Masjid has become the centre of a legal dispute after Hindu plaintiffs alleged that the mosque was built over a Hindu temple known as the Harihar Mandir. In November last year, violence had erupted in Sambhal during a court-ordered survey of the Mughal-era mosque, resulting in the deaths of at least four people.

The Supreme Court had earlier stayed the trial court’s proceedings, directing that no further steps be taken until the Allahabad High Court reviewed the mosque committee’s petition.