Allahabad HC orders listing Sambhal violence-related matter in ordinary course

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court on Thursday ordered listing in ordinary course a writ petition seeking registration of FIR against the district magistrate, superintendent of police and other officials in the Sambhal violence case and also their arrest. The order was passed by a bench comprising justices Siddhartha Varma and Syed Qamar Hasan Rizvi as even in the revised call, none appeared to argue the matter.

Though at that time, on behalf of the state government Additional Advocate General Manish Goel as well as government advocate A K Sand were present in the court.

The PIL was filed by Hazrat Khwajah Garib Nawaj Welfare Association. It sought an FIR against the district magistrate and SP and to arrest them claiming these officials were liable for the violence and the four deaths in alleged police firing.

Earlier on Wednesday, the high court dismissed a PIL seeking an independent probe into the alleged incidents of police atrocity during the Sambhal violence.

A division bench of justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Gautam Chowdhary dismissed the petition when the counsel said he do not want to press the petition in the light that the state government has already set up a judicial inquiry commission to probe into the incident of violence.

The PIL petition was filed by Association of Protection of Civil Rights (APCR).

After the Sambhal violence, the Uttar Pradesh government constituted a three-member judicial commission comprising retired high court judge Devendra Kumar Arora, retired IAS officer Amit Mohan Prasad, and retired IPS officer Arvind Kumar Jain last month.

Violence erupted in Sambhal district on November 24 after a team led by an advocate commissioner surveyed the Mughal-era Jama Mosque on the orders of a local court.
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