India city tense after violence over mosque survey

BBC:

Sambhal city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is on alert after three people died and dozens were injured in violent clashes on Sunday.

Clashes broke out between protesters and the police during a court-monitored survey of the Mughal-era Jama Masjid (mosque).

Authorities have detained 21 people in connection with the violence and have suspended internet services and shut schools in the area for a day.

The survey was ordered by a local court last week hours after a petition claimed that the mosque had been built on the site of a destroyed temple.

Videos and images of the clashes shared on social media show slippers, bricks and stones strewn around the mosque.

Protesters allege that three men were shot in police firing but authorities have denied this.

“No weapons were used that could take anyone’s life,” Superintendent of Police Krishan Kumar told the Hindu newspaper.

The controversy around the Jama Masjid is the latest in a series of disputes around mosques in the country, where Hindu groups have claimed that Mughal rulers destroyed temples to build them.

Legal cases pertaining to these claims are currently being fought by Muslim groups in various courts.

In Sambhal, tensions have been brewing since Tuesday, after a local court ordered a video-recorded survey of the Jama Masjid. The survey was ordered hours after a petition claimed that the mosque was built after Mughal ruler Babur destroyed the Hari Har temple in the 1520s.

Authorities in Uttar Pradesh, which is governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), conducted an initial survey of the mosque the same day.