Retired Top Cop, Former Judge, and Ex-Bureaucrat: Who's Who in the Sambhal Mosque Inquiry Commission
Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel has issued a three-member Judicial Inquiry Commission to investigate the instances of violence in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh. The inquiry had been made just before an ASI investigation of a medieval-era mosque from the Mughal era. The commission was headed by Justice Devendra Kumar Arora, retired judge of Allahabad HC, and comprised retired IAS officer Amit Mohan Prasad along with retired IPS officer Arvind Kumar Jain.
The commission will study the question whether it was a planned act or something that had gone awry in the whole drama. It will also critically evaluate the response from the side of law enforcing forces, i.e. the District Administration and the police. In case, recommendations shall be forwarded so that in the future no such incident would have place in Sambhal.
Justice Devendra Kumar Arora, who has been retired since 2019, has a long tenure in the legal field; he was the chairman of UP Real Estate Regulatory Authority or RERA. Justice Arora was appointed as additional judge in Allahabad High Court in 2009 and became a regular judge the next year.
Amit Mohan Prasad is a 1989 batch IAS officer. He has been in the position of having several significant assignments during his tenure. His experience as District Magistrate came at Jalaun, Mirzapur, Muzaffarnagar, and Meerut. Some of the initiatives include launching the Direct Benefit Transfer system for agricultural subsidies in 2015 and implementing the cluster model for COVID-19 vaccination in 2020.
A good ally to the investigation, now is also Arvind Kumar Jain, who in 2015 was designated the Director General of Uttar Pradesh Police. Mr. Jain belongs to a very long career at police force: his term at DG Police has been since then extended, even after a scheduled retirement.
This commission has been formed in response to violence that erupted on November 24, 2024, during a dispute involving the mosque in Sambhal. Four people lost their lives during the unrest, and the Supreme Court is expected to hear a plea on the matter soon. The court challenge involves the Committee of Management of Jama Masjid in Sambhal, which seeks to contest the local court's order for the survey of the mosque.
The investigation into the violence and the subsequent examination of the mosque are important steps in understanding the root causes of the unrest, and what the commission finds is going to have a lot of implications both for law enforcement and public safety in the region.
