With that Sambhal's Shahi Jama Masjid has joined the select few. Babri Masjid was a disputed structure. The Gyanvapi Mosque is a disputed structure and "alleged mosque." So are Mathura's 'Idgah' and 3000 to 30,000 others strewn across India's mosque-lined landscape.

All of them "alleged", which grates to the Muslim ear. Sambhal's Shahi Jama Masjid was always bone of contention and is now destined to undergo a protracted judicial grind just like the Babri Masjid had to before it morphed into the Ayodhya Ram Mandir.

Today, Sambhal's Shahi Jama Masjid is fighting to retain its identity with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) throwing in a spanner. On Friday, the ASI submitted to the Allahabad High Court an “inspection report”, which stated that the Shahi Jama Masjid was in “overall good condition” and that there was no "urgency for repainting it".

The request for a "repainting" was made by the Masjid Management Committee of the Shahi Jama Masjid ahead of the holy month of Ramzan. The ASI put its foot down and the Allahabad High Court tied the laces for it, setting up a 3-member ASI-led panel to inspect and report if the mosque needed "whitewashing."

The ASI revealed to the high court that the Masjid Committee had undertaken a number of works of “repairs and renovation” within the Shahi Jama Masjid which was tantamount to “making additions and alterations" to the ASI-protected monument, which cannot be touched leave alone altered.

This was “crime” but the Masjid Committee remained unfazed. A mistake had been committed; it shouldn’t have gambled; taken the issue of “painting and whitewashing” to the Allahabad High Court. The committee was too confident by half.

Now "Islamic Scholars" are reiterating that the “Muslim Paksh” was acting in good faith; that the "Samvidhan" was supreme. They also repeated with mesmerizing regularity that followers of Islam are honest by definition and truthful by disposition, so don't get the trousers in a twist and let not argument and dispute prevail!

Counsel for the Masjid Committee told the Allahabad High Court that the ASI was not entirely honest and that "whitewashing" the Shahi Jama Masjid was a necessity ahead of Ramzan; that the Masjid Committee submits totally and sincerely to the court and that the law of the land gives it the right to propagate and practice religion, a line of defense which always strikes home.

It doesn't matter that the truth is divergent and the Masjid Committee refused to choose the rarely trodden, for it, path. What mattered to the Masjid committee was that the “woods are lovely, dark and deep” and there were miles to go before the final verdict — after the High court, the Supreme Court!

In short, Sambhal’s Shahi Jama Masjid is shaping up to become the next contentious “disputed structure” in all earnest. The Allahabad High Court on Friday referred to it as “disputed structure” and "alleged mosque". Hasn't the import of the references sunk in? The 'Masjid Committee' sounded like they hadn't.

What came out in court was that works of repair and renovation, tantamount to additions and alteration of the historical structure, had been carried out inside the ASI-protected structure, which is now registered as "disputed" in the high court records.

Did things awry for the Masjid Committee when it sought to seek the high court’s permission for “painting” the Shahi Jama Masjid?

“The floor of the monument has been completely replaced by tiles and stones. The interior of the mosque has been painted with thick layers of enamel paint of sharp colours like golden, red, green and yellow, concealing the original surface of the monument,” says the report submitted to the Allahabad High Court.

The ASI report also speaks of several "small chambers in the west and north sides of the mosque”, which are in a "dilapidated condition, their ceilings supported by shaky and vulnerable wooden shingles.” The report says that “modern work/intervention that occurred in the mosque premises needs to be identified thoroughly to bring the monument to its original fabric.”

The ASI’s Meerut Circle will identify and document detailed items of work to prepare estimates for urgent conservation and repair work. The ASI will also carry out day-to-day maintenance of the disputed structure on the condition that the Masjid Committee doesn't place any “hindrance.”

The Masjid Committee’s reaction/rejoinder was along expected lines. The committee debunked the ASI’s report and insisted that “whitewashing” the “mosque” was necessary. The two-judge bench of the high court gave the Masjid Committee time until Tuesday to submit its detailed response.

By then, the “disputed structure’s” premises should be cleaned and the dust and vegetation removed. The Shahi Jama Masjid is said to be over 500 years old and was allegedly built during Aurangzeb’s rule. The Hindu side calls this a manufactured lie and insists that Aurangzeb razed the ancient ‘Hari Har Mandir’ and built on it the Shahi Jama Masjid.

Sambhal for the Hindus is where Bhagwan Kalki, the last of the Vishnu avatars, is expected to be "appear" and the Hari Har Mandir will be ‘His’ abode. On November 24, a court-ordered “survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid” was forcibly halted when a murderous mob took over the streets of Sambhal.

Today Sambhal looks transformed with the Yogi Adityanath government in total control and the perpetrators of November 24 behind bars or on the run. Things should come to a proper conclusion, irrespective of which party/front comes to power in 2027.

The “Shahi Jama Masjid” was bought under ASI care and control in 1920. But then, the ASI staff posted to “protect the ASI-protected monument” were themselves left pleading for protection till there was no trace of ASI left inside or outside the protected monument.

For the record, now is the first time in decades that this neck of western Uttar Pradesh is seeing any semblance of rule of law. The Masjid Committee wanted to use the relative peace to carry out “whitewashing, cleaning, repairing and installing additional lighting” for a smooth Ramzan experience. But things didn’t go as planned and now it’s like things will go as Bhagwan Kalki planned! (IPA Service)