Hindu Population Declined From 45% To 15%: Sambhal Violence Report Highlights Change In Demography; Details

Lucknow: The three-member panel, appointed to investigate the Sambhal violence case, submitted its report to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, according to the state Information Department.

The 450-page report consists of details about the November 2024 Sambhal violence and also touches on the previous riots which took place in the city.

The report also mentions key details about the demographic changes in Sambhal, where, at one point, the Hindu community members comprised 45 per cent, but their number has since decreased to 20 per cent.

According to the report, during independence, 55% of the population was Muslim and 45% Hindu in the Sambhal Nagar Palika area; however, at the present time, the Hindu population has decreased to 15%, whereas the Muslim community has increased to 85%.

A total of 15 riots took place in Sambhal since independence.

On 24 November 2024, violence erupted during a court-ordered Archaeological Survey of India survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal. The violence had resulted in the deaths of four individuals and injuries to several others, including officials and locals. As local Muslims gathered outside the mosque and tensions escalated, police resorted to force and opened fire on the protesters, killing at least four men and several injured, including officials and locals.

The violence resulted in 12 FIRs and 80 arrests for allegedly pelting stones at police from rooftops. According to the charge sheet, there were 159 total accused in the case. It also mentioned that the weapons recovered from the site of violence and other places were manufactured in the United Kingdom, USA, and Germany. The Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) had filed a chargesheet of over 4,000 pages in six of the 12 cases.

Following the violence, the UP government constituted a three-tier judicial inquiry commission to investigate Sambhal violence. The commission is chaired by retired judge Devendra Arora, former DGP AK Jain and former IAS Amit Mohan Prasad.

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