‘No one will be spared’

Every year, on the first Tuesday following Holi, a shield is placed in front of Sambhal Kotwali. The subsequent Tuesday, the city hosts the historic Neza Mela, which concludes near the shrine of Syed Abdul Rahman on Hasanpur Road. This fair captures the entire history of Sambhal’s ups and downs through theatrical reenactments.

This time, the Uttar Pradesh government seeks to change the script. Since the police firing on 24 November 2024, which resulted in the deaths of four young men, the administration has not allowed the residents any respite. In the wake of the controversial Shahi Jama Masjid survey and the clashes that followed, the police have been raiding homes to arrest the ‘accused’.

Houses and shops are being demolished under the pretext of encroachment. Housing plans are being scrutinised, and inquiries being made about electricity connections, land and shop registrations, GST returns, even professional and political affiliations. Terrorising Muslims into leaving Sambhal seems to be the UP chief minister’s strategy for turning the place into yet another ‘holy’ city for the majority community. Is this ‘restoring cultural heritage’ or avenging Salar Masood Ghazi’s attack on Sambhal 11 centuries ago?

The legend of Salar Masood Ghazi

There are many tales about Salar Masood Ghazi. One tells of the time when Jai Singh, the king of Sambhal, abducted the daughter of a relative of Mahmud Ghaznavi. Ghaznavi sent his 17-year-old nephew Salar Masood to Sambhal. A battle broke out, and the Rajputs emerged victorious in the first attack. A flagpole in front of Sambhal Kotwali marks this event However, a week later, Salar launched a second attack and emerged triumphant. The three-day Neza Mela commemorates this battle with all the newly-weds dressing up in their bridal finery in honour of Masood.

Sambhal is a historic city with a predominantly Muslim population, which includes a significant number of Turks, Afghans and Sayyids.

Most of those killed or injured in the police action of 24 November were from the pasmanda (backward) community. This is surprising because the BJP has shown considerable concern for the pasmanda population with the aim of converting them into a vote bank.

Now, however, the language used by the administration, including the district magistrate and police superintendents, suggests that they have been tasked by the government to see themselves not as public servants but as religious warriors.

Relentless and ruthless police action

The Sambhal police have so far made 54 arrests and detained around 55 individuals for allegedly pelting stones and targeting on-duty officers in the 24 November incident. In his statement, Sambhal’s superintendent of police Krishna Kumar Bishnoi said, “We have so far arrested 54 suspects, including six women who threw stones at the police from their rooftops that day. Ninety-one more offenders are on the radar for their involvement in the violence. They have either taken refuge in other states or are staying with relatives in nearby districts. We will approach the court to obtain non-bailable warrants to expedite the arrest process. No one will be spared.”

Shahida Begum, a resident of Sambhal, alleges that her family member was unjustly arrested and subjected to inhumane treatment. “The police targeted him because he supported the Samajwadi Party in the last election. They brutally assaulted him and used language filled with religious hatred. Is this what democracy looks like?” she asked.

Ruchi Veera, Samajwadi Party MP from Moradabad, said, “The administration is oppressing people and not allowing us to meet them. This is inhumane and undemocratic.”

Families of those arrested claim that the police not only vandalised their homes but also targeted individuals with no connection to the incident. “The DSP is roaming the city with a mace, seen with partisans, and targeting anyone who dares to speak up,” said a woman speaking anonymously.

Police action has been outright hostile. This is evident from what happened to Sambhal MP Ziaur Rahman Barq, who claims that on the day of the incident, he was attending a meeting of the Muslim Personal Law Board in Bengaluru. Despite not being in Sambhal, he was accused. On 19 December 2024, a bulldozer demolished ‘unauthorised’ stairs outside his newly constructed house.

‘Discovering’ temples everywhere

On 12 December 2024, while hearing several petitions related to the Places of Worship Act, 1991, the Supreme Court ordered that lower courts should not pass effective interim or final orders, including orders for surveys, in pending suits. How is the Sambhal administration and the UP government above this order? In pursuance of their blatant agenda, temples are now being sought in houses that Hindu families sold to Muslims years ago.

The administration claims to have found one such temple in the Khaggu Sarai locality. It asserts that the owners fled in fear 46 years ago. The excavation of an alleged stepwell in Ladai Sarai was breathlessly reported, with minute-by-minute coverage presented as if artefacts from the Harappan era had been discovered.

An exasperated Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav observed, “There is a Shivling under the chief minister’s residence in Lucknow. We know this. It should also be excavated.” Once again, the Supreme Court was called upon to intervene. On 10 January, it issued a stay on a ‘notice’ purportedly released by the Sambhal municipal authorities regarding the well.

The court mandated a status report within two weeks, even as the UP government maintained that the well was situated on government land. This intervention occurred after the mosque management committee claimed that the notice — a public poster issued by the Sambhal Nagar Palika Parishad — referred to the well as Hari Mandir, and announced puja timings. This has met with opposition from the local Muslim community, leading to further tensions in the area.

Demolitions disguised as ‘anti-encroachment’ drives

The Sambhal district administration has also bumped up its ‘anti-encroachment’ campaign. In the first week of January this year, Sunehri Masjid received a notice for illegal encroachment. Excavations began around the Akarma Mochan well, located 250 m from Sadar Kotwali, near Sambhal’s Shahi Jama Masjid.

On 11 January, bulldozers demolished a shop to clear a path to the well as well as 12 shops outside the mosque (11 of which paid rent to the mosque). When presented with documents, Sambhal sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Vandana Mishra found all of them to be ‘unregistered’, then measured the market road and gave the shopkeepers 24 hours to clear out.

In the Chaudhary Sarai area, several roadside shops were demolished as illegal encroachments. The administration also demolished the boundary wall of 30 sq. m of land belonging to one Zubaid, labelling it as illegal. This was in response to a complaint lodged with Mishra, who arrived with a bulldozer and demolished the alleged illegal encroachment in the Nai Sarai area of Sadar Kotwali.

With hundreds of shops and houses being demolished in various parts of the city over the past three months, it’s getting harder to keep track. What’s getting easier, though, is to see the UP government for the brute force that it is.