Whitewashing of Jama Masjid in Sambhal underway after HC order
What's the story
The Shahi Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district is being whitewashed. This comes after the Allahabad HC on March 12 ordered the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to get it done in a week.
Shakeel Warsi, the advocate of the mosque side in the Sambhal district court, confirmed work started on Sunday morning.
Work progress
Work initiated amid heightened tensions
Shahi Jama Masjid president Zafar Ali said whitewashing work started at 9:00am.
Currently, nine-ten laborers are working on it, he said, but to finish the work in four days as per the court's directive, around 20 workers would be needed.
Ali also clarified that they are using traditional colors—white, green, and light golden hues.
Violence aftermath
Sambhal remains tense after mosque survey riots
Sambhal has been tense since riots broke out on November 24 last year after a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid.
The violence left four dead and several injured including police personnel.
In February, UP Police's SIT filed a chargesheet of over 4,000 pages in six of 12 cases related to the riots.
So far, 80 have been arrested while 79 remain absconding, totaling 159 accused.
Supervision details
ASI team supervises whitewashing project
ASI team that reached the site on March 13 after the court's order took measurements and did assessments.
They've been supervising whitewashing work and consulting with mosque authorities too.
However, earlier delays were reported when an ASI team along with painters arrived, but left without starting the work.
The Jama Masjid committee was later informed by ASI that painting would officially start on Sunday morning as per the court's instructions.