Report accuses Indian authorities of stoking violence, targeting Muslims in Sambal
Fact-finding panel alleges official complicity in deadly unrest over mosque survey in India’s Uttar Pradesh, warns of rising communal tensions
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) – In India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh, a fact-finding report has alleged that government officials played a role in stoking deadly violence in the town of Sambhal, where a mosque survey last year triggered communal tensions.
The 114-page report, “Sambhal: Anatomy of an Engineered Crisis — Myth, Violence, and the Weaponization of Faith in a Muslim-majority city”, was released by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) and Karwan-e-Mohabbat.
The report accuses the local administration of mishandling the situation and using force that led to the deaths of at least five Muslim men during protests on 24 November 2024.
The violence followed a local court’s order to survey the Shahi Jama Masjid, a 16th-century mosque in Sambhal, after Hindu petitioners claimed it was built atop a demolished temple dedicated to Lord Kalki, a figure from Hindu mythology.
The survey was ordered and conducted within hours, without hearing the mosque committee’s side, the report says.
The town of Sambhal 200 kilometers (124 miles) east of India’s national capital New Delhi, popularly called ‘little Turkey’, houses 350,000 to 400,000 Turkic descent population. The region has 40 to 55% Muslim electorate, with a majority of them proud of their Turkic descent.
On the day of the second survey, the report alleges, officials were accompanied by a crowd shouting religious slogans. The mosque’s ablution tank was drained—an act many Muslims saw as desecration—which sparked protests.
Police responded with lathi charges, tear gas, and gunfire. Eyewitnesses and video footage, cited in the report, contradict official claims that the protesters were armed and violent.
The report further details how, in the weeks that followed, Muslim-majority neighbourhoods faced house raids, arrests, demolition drives targeting alleged encroachments, and a crackdown on electricity use—actions seen as discriminatory.
Sambhal, a town with a significant Muslim population, had largely avoided major communal violence in recent decades, though it holds symbolic importance in Hindu belief as the prophesied birthplace of Lord Kalki.
The report warns that the dispute risks turning Sambhal into “the new Ayodhya”—referencing the town where the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid triggered nationwide riots.
The district administration has dismissed the report. Sambhal’s District Magistrate Rajender Pensiya called it “a farce,” insisting that the administration’s actions were lawful and aimed at maintaining order. He denied any link between the anti-encroachment and electricity drives and the violence.
India’s Supreme Court has stayed further survey actions and proceedings related to the case, but tensions remain high in the region.
Rights groups warn that Sambhal illustrates how religious myths, politics, and administrative actions can combine to marginalize minority communities and inflame sectarian divisions.
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