3 weeks ago
Supreme Court adjourns hearing on Sambhal mosque survey pleas
In India, there is a very important court called the Supreme Court.
In a town called Sambhal, there is an old mosque.
Some people say a temple stood there hundreds of years ago, before the mosque was built.
They asked a lower court to check the mosque with a survey.
The people who take care of the mosque did not want the survey to happen.
Another court, the Allahabad High Court, said the survey could go ahead.
So the mosque committee asked the Supreme Court to help.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court said it will talk about this again on August 18.
The court wants everyone to stay calm and peaceful while it decides.
There is also an old law from 1991 that protects how religious places looked in 1947, and the Supreme Court is thinking about that law too.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned to August 18 the hearing on pleas challenging the Allahabad High Court order in the Sambhal mosque survey case.
Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe deferred the matter after a letter circulated seeking adjournment.
The Allahabad High Court had dismissed the mosque committee's plea and upheld the civil court's direction for the survey as maintainable.
The committee challenged the November 19, 2024 survey order and called the second survey of November 24, 2024 illegal.
The suit claims the Mughal-era mosque was built by Babur in 1526 after demolishing the Harihar temple at Sambhal.
- Who
- A Supreme Court bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe, the committee of management of Sambhal's Jama Masjid, and the Allahabad High Court.
- What
- The Supreme Court adjourned till August 18 the hearing on the mosque committee's pleas challenging the Allahabad High Court order that upheld the survey in the Shahi Jama Masjid-Harihar temple dispute.
- Where
- The Supreme Court of India in New Delhi; the underlying dispute concerns Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh.
- When
- Tuesday, August 11; the next hearing is scheduled for August 18.
- Why
- The matter was deferred after a letter circulated seeking adjournment, and the case involves whether proceedings and the survey violated the Supreme Court's December 2024 restraint order on lawsuits seeking to reclaim religious places.
Mosque committee
Suit petitioners and courts ordering the survey
Lawfulness of the mosque survey
Mosque committee
The committee says the November 19, 2024 survey order and the second survey of November 24, 2024 were illegal, as the civil court never ordered the second one, and the Allahabad High Court could not have proceeded in light of the Supreme Court's December 2024 order.
Suit petitioners and courts ordering the survey
The Allahabad High Court held that the suit and the appointment of a court commissioner were maintainable and upheld the civil court's direction for the survey.
Origin of the mosque site
Mosque committee
The suit contends that Mughal emperor Babur built the mosque in 1526 after demolishing the Harihar temple at Sambhal.
Suit petitioners and courts ordering the survey
The mosque committee contests the reclaim suit, pointing to the Supreme Court's December 2024 restraint on fresh lawsuits seeking to reclaim religious places and the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which protects the religious character of places as they existed in 1947.
Key facts
- Court
- Supreme Court of India
- Next hearing
- August 18
- Dispute
- Shahi Jama Masjid-Harihar temple, Sambhal
- Survey order
- November 19, 2024 by Sambhal civil judge; second survey on November 24, 2024
- High Court order
- May 19, 2025 - dismissed mosque committee's plea, upheld survey as maintainable
- Key law
- Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991
- Restraint order
- December 12, 2024 - courts barred from fresh suits and effective orders on reclaiming religious places
- Suit claim
- Mosque built by Mughal emperor Babur in 1526 after demolishing the Harihar temple
Sources
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