The Archeological Survey of India has been asked to undertake complete whitewashing of the Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district within one week by the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday.
This comes after the Allahabad High Court directed the counsel appearing for the ASI on Monday to come up with specific declaration as to what prejudice would whitewashing the outer walls of the mosque cause.
The Justice hearing the case had also directed the Sambhal district magistrate to produce the original agreement entered in 1927 between the administration and the mosque committee to handover the masjid to the ASI.
Bench consisting of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal has also directed the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to install lights on the outer portion of the mosque after hearing counsels for the parties.
On February 28, the ASI submitted a report stating that the interior of the mosque has been painted with ceramic colour and there is no need for whitewashing it at present.
In response, SFA Naqvi, counsel for the masjid committee, had submitted that "ASI till date, has not disclosed in its affidavit that it is denying the whitewashing, extra lighting and installation of decorative lights outside the disputed structure."
He was also hopeful of the coloured photographs of the exterior portion of the disputed site showing the need of whitewashing to help in the case.
Several riots erupted in Sambhal on November 24 last year during a court-ordered survey of Shahi Jama Masjid following claims that the mosque was built over the ruins of a Hindu temple allegedly destroyed during the Mughal era.
The survey led to protests, which escalated into violent clashes between local residents and the police. Authorities responded with tear gas and crowd-control measures to contain the situation.
The violence resulted in four deaths and multiple injuries.
