India mosque row: SC halts trial court proceedings, directs UP govt to maintain peace

At the plea of a Mosque Committee, the Supreme Court of India ordered to stop the archaeological survey of the historic Mughal era mosque in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is claimed to be a temple.

According to Indian media, the Supreme Court today directed the management committee of the Shahi Eidgah Mosque in Sambhal to approach the Allahabad High Court challenging the trial court’s order.

The court also ordered that the trial court’s hearing on January 8 and any further proceedings will not proceed until the Allahabad High Court takes up the case.

Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna said that peace and harmony should be ensured. We will keep the case pending. We don’t want anything to happen.

It should be noted that the trial court had ordered an archaeological survey of the Shahi Eid Gah Mosque in Sambhal on the request of the extremist Hindu party.

To implement this order, the police and extremists had reached the Hindu mosque where a large number of Muslims were also present.

The mosque committee had presented a request to the police to refer the matter to the Supreme Court and requested the police to postpone the action till the verdict.

However, the police tried to forcefully enter the mosque, which enraged the Muslims present there.

Three youths were killed on the spot and dozens were injured in the tear gas shelling and direct firing by the police.