SAMBHAL (UP), March 27: A local court on Thursday rejected the interim bail plea of Shahi Jama Masjid president Zafar Ali and posted his regular plea on April 2, officials said.
Additional district judge II Nirbhay Narayan Rai heard the interim bail plea and dismissed it, said additional district government counsel Hariom Prakash Saini.
During the hearing, he said, Ali’s lawyer argued for interim bail, but the prosecution opposed it, citing serious charges against him, including assembling a mob, inciting violence, damaging public property, and fabricating facts.
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Based on the arguments, the court denied him interim bail and scheduled the regular bail plea hearing on April 2, Saini added.
Ali was arrested on March 23 after being questioned in connection with the November 24 violence during a protest against a court-ordered survey of the Mughal-era mosque.
On the same day, a court in Chandausi rejected Ali’s bail plea and sent him two days of judicial custody to Moradabad Jail.
A case was registered against Ali under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including 191(2) and 191(3) (rioting), 190 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 221 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 230 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of capital offence) and 231 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of offence punishable with imprisonment for life or imprisonment).
He was also booked under provisions of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Ali has denied the charges and claimed he was framed.
Ali’s elder brother Tahir Ali alleged the police “deliberately” sent his brother to jail before the judicial panel could record his testimony.
The Uttar Pradesh government set up the panel to investigate the violence in which four people were killed and several injured during protests over the survey.
The Mughal-era mosque has been at the centre of a major row after a petition claimed it was the site of an ancient Hindu temple.
On November 24 last year, violence erupted in Sambhal’s Kot Garvi locality during a survey of the Mughal-era Jama Masjid. (PTI)
