Sambhal mosque row: SC tells mosque committee to reply to claim on well in two weeks

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted two weeks to the Sambhal mosque committee to respond to a status report filed by the Uttar Pradesh government, contending that the disputed well is “totally outside” Sambhal's Mughal-era Jama Masjid, claimed by Hindu side as a temple.

On January 10, the top court directed the Sambhal district magistrate to maintain status quo on reviving or allowing prayers at a "private" well located near the entrance of the mosque.

On a plea of the Committee of Management, Shahi Jama Masjid, Sambhal, the court had sent notices to the Centre, the director general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Sambhal district magistrate and other private Hindu side litigants led by Hari Shankar Jain.

On Tuesday, Additional Solicitor General K M Natraj, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government and other authorities, informed a bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar that the well was situated “totally outside” the mosque.

The bench directed the mosque committee to file its response to the status report of the authorities in two weeks.

Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the mosque committee, sought three weeks' time on the ground that the president of the mosque committee Zafar Ali was in jail. Ali was arrested on March 23 after being questioned in connection with the November 24, 2024 violence during a protest against a court-ordered survey of the Mughal-era mosque.

“Take a ‘mulaqat’ (meeting with an inmate in jail) and do it. Somebody else can also file the response. Please do it in two weeks only,” the CJI said and deferred the hearing on the plea.