A three-member judicial commission headed by Justice (Retd) Devendra Kumar Arora, a former Allahabad high court judge, probing the November 2024 Sambhal violence submitted its report to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday, almost three months after the incident.
The 450-page report presents a comprehensive account of the incident, prior communal clashes in the region, and highlights significant demographic shifts in the district over the decades.
According to the commission’s findings, the Hindu population in Sambhal — a communally sensitive district — has declined dramatically from around 45 per cent at the time of independence in 1947 to approximately 15 per cent today.
Conversely, the Muslim population has seen a significant rise, now accounting for nearly 85 per cent of the district’s residents.
The report raises concerns over the demographic imbalance, stating that Hindus, once a considerable segment of Sambhal’s populace, have increasingly become a minority.
It suggests that the district has seen consistent communal tensions, with Hindus being the “primary victims” in several recorded incidents of violence post-independence.
The judicial panel also examined historical patterns of unrest in the region, including violent rivalries between local Turk and Pathan communities. The most recent incident — the November 24, 2024, violence — erupted during a court-mandated Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) inspection at the Shahi Jama Masjid.
As tensions escalated, police forces opened fire on protesters after clashes turned violent, resulting in the deaths of four individuals and injuries to multiple others, including police personnel and civilians.
The report confirms that the violence was primarily orchestrated by mobs assembled near the mosque. A total of 12 FIRs were registered and 80 individuals were arrested for stone-pelting and attacks on police from rooftops. The charge sheet lists 159 accused in connection with the incident.
Significantly, weapons recovered from the site were found to be manufactured in countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, raising questions about the source of arms involved in the riots.
The Uttar Pradesh Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) has already submitted over 4,000 pages of documentation across six of the 12 registered cases.
The inquiry commission — comprising retired High Court judge Devendra Arora, former DGP AK Jain, and former IAS officer Amit Mohan Prasad — has also flagged the region’s vulnerability to radicalization, claiming that Sambhal has reportedly become a base for certain terrorist outfits.
Political ramifications have emerged as well. The report notes the alleged involvement of Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders in supporting the accused.
SP MP Zia-ur-Rehman Barq and Suhail Iqbal, son of SP MLA Iqbal Mehmood, have been named in the charge sheet, fueling criticism of the party’s stance. The SP has previously been accused of indulging in appeasement politics, a charge the party denies.
Despite the scale of the violence, the report credits the timely deployment of police forces in Hindu-majority areas for preventing a larger tragedy. The commission concludes that the attack was premeditated and aimed at communal destabilization.
The state government is expected to take further action based on the commission’s recommendations.
