A district court on Thursday rejected the interim bail plea of Shahi Jama Masjid President Zafar Ali and scheduled a regular bail hearing for April 2, officials said.
The application was turned down by Additional District Judge II, Nirbhay Narayan Rai, according to Additional District Government Counsel Hariom Prakash Saini.
During the hearing, Ali’s counsel argued for temporary bail, but the prosecution opposed it, citing serious allegations against him, including inciting violence, gathering a crowd, destruction of public property, and misrepresentation of facts. After reviewing the arguments, the court denied the interim bail and set April 2 for the regular bail hearing.
Case Background
Zafar Ali, the chairman of Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal Shahi Jama Masjid Committee, was arrested on 23 March 2025 for the 24 November 2024 violence. The violence was precipitated by a survey of the mosque conducted during the Mughal era, upon the directive of a court, and purported to be at the center of the row following a contention that it was on the site of an ancient Hindu temple.
The protests turned to violent confrontations between the protesters and police forces, killing five individuals and injuring several civilians and police. Protests have supposedly thrown stones, torched vehicles, and had frontal confrontations with the police, with the latter responding in kind with tear gas and other crowd control gear.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the violence filed a 4,000-page chargesheet against 159 individuals in as many cases. While Ali had not been named in FIRs initially, his role was faulted for causing the violence subsequently.
Legal Charges Against Ali
Ali has been charged under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), such as Section 230 – Fabrication of false evidence intending to cause conviction of a person for an offence involving punishment by death or life imprisonment. Section 231 – Offering or causing false evidence with intent to cause conviction of a person. Section 55 – Abetting an offence involving death or imprisonment for life.
The authorities also charge Ali with inciting public against police on social media and collecting funds claiming to assist the victims of violence. Ali was arrested at his home in Sambhal and brought to Kotwali police station for questioning before he was arrested. He was arrested one day ahead of when he was scheduled to testify before a three-member judicial commission investigating the violence on November 24. His brother, Tahir Ali, accused the arrest of preventing him from testifying.
Legal Community Protests Arrest
The arrest of Ali has caused outrage among Sambhal’s legal community, with more than 100 lawyers going on a “pen-down strike” in protest. The Sambhal Bar Association criticized the arrest as unfair to charge him with serious charges months after the case. His counsel submitted both interim and permanent applications for bail, which were rejected by the court on Thursday.
