Lucknow: A three-member panel appointed to investigate the Sambhal violence case recently submitted a comprehensive 450-page report to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, according to the state Information Department. The report details the November 2024 Sambhal violence and also references past riots in the city.

The report highlights substantial demographic changes in Sambhal over the decades. Specifically, at independence, the Sambhal Nagar Palika area was composed of 55 per cent Muslims and 45 per cent Hindus; however, today the Hindu community has shrunk to 15 per cent, while the Muslim population has increased to 85 per cent. The report states that Sambhal has witnessed a total of 15 riots since its independence.

The violence in question broke out on November 24, 2024, during a court-ordered Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) examination of the Shahi Jama Masjid. This mosque, situated in Sambhal, was under scrutiny after claims emerged that it was built on the ruins of a Hindu temple allegedly demolished during the Mughal era. During the survey, tensions escalated as local Muslims gathered outside the mosque. Police resorted to force and opened fire on the protesters, resulting in at least four deaths and injuries to several others, including officials and locals.

The unrest led to the filing of 12 FIRs and the arrest of 80 individuals accused of throwing stones at police from rooftops. According to the charge sheet, a total of 159 individuals have been accused in connection with the case. Recovered weapons from the violence site and other locations were reported to have origins in the United Kingdom, the USA, and Germany. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh Police filed a chargesheet exceeding 4,000 pages across six of the twelve cases.

In response to the violence, the Uttar Pradesh government established a three-tier judicial inquiry commission chaired by retired judge Devendra Arora, former DGP AK Jain, and former IAS officer Amit Mohan Prasad to conduct an in-depth investigation into the incident.

With inputs from PTI