No Settlement in Sambhal Mosque Dispute as Court Defers Hearing to August 25

A court in Chandausi on Tuesday deferred the hearing in the Shahi Jama Masjid-Harihar Temple dispute to August 25, following the Supreme Court's interim stay on proceedings related to the case.

The matter was listed before Civil Judge (Senior Division) Aditya Singh. However, no substantive proceedings were conducted as the case remains stayed under the Supreme Court's November 2024 order, according to Hindu-side counsel Shrigopal Sharma.

Sharma said the court has now fixed August 25 as the next date of hearing. He also said that the mediation process between the two sides had failed to produce a settlement. According to him, the Hindu side was willing to engage in mediation, but the other party did not agree to its proposals.

Counsel representing the Shahi Jama Masjid side, Shakeel Ahmed Warsi, offered a different explanation for the failure of mediation. He said the Hindu side had sought the right to offer prayers at the disputed site, a demand that his clients could not accept. Warsi maintained that the matter should be decided through the judicial process and said his side would abide by the court's final verdict.

The dispute began on November 19, 2024, when Hindu petitioners, including advocates Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Shankar Jain, approached the Sambhal district court, claiming that the 16th-century mosque had been constructed over a temple.

The Muslim side later challenged the maintainability of the case before the Allahabad High Court. However, in May 2025, the high court upheld the trial court's decision allowing a court-monitored survey and directed the proceedings to continue.

A subsequent survey at the site reportedly triggered violent unrest in Sambhal, leaving four people dead and 29 police personnel injured. Police cases were registered against Samajwadi Party MP Ziaur Rahman Barq, mosque committee chief Zafar Ali and 2,750 unidentified individuals in connection with the violence.