LUCKNOW: In a significant move, the Allahabad High Court has carried out a major judicial reshuffle, transferring 14 judges, including three district judge-level officers. Among the prominent names is Vibhanshu Sudhir, Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Sambhal.
He had recently ordered the registration of an FIR against Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Anuj Chaudhary and 20 policemen on January 9 in connection with the violence that rocked the city during the court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid on November 24, 2024.
It was Aditya Singh who had ordered the survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal in November 2024 while hearing a petition which claimed that the mosque was originally the Harihar temple. Aditya Kumar Singh has since been promoted.
Reacting to the development, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav dubbed the transfers an irregularity, urging the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court of India to take cognisance of the matter.
Significantly, ASP Anuj Chaudhary had visited Gorakhpur on January 15, the day of Makar Sankranti, six days after the order to register an FIR against him and other policemen was passed. The ASP had performed prayers at the Gorakhnath Temple.
It may be recalled that Yameen, a resident of Mohalla Khaggu Sarai Anjuman under Sambhal’s Nakhasa police station area, filed a petition in the CJM court on February 6, 2025, stating that his son, Alam, had left home on November 24, 2024, to sell rusk (toast). When he reached the Shahi Jama Masjid area, the police allegedly shot him.
Yameen had named 12 policemen, including the then Circle Officer (CO) Sambhal Anuj Chaudhary and Sambhal Kotwali Inspector Anuj Tomar, as accused. The case was heard in court on January 9, 2026. The Chief Judicial Magistrate ordered that an FIR be filed against all the police officers named.
Yameen’s lawyer, Chaudhary Akhtar Hussain, said his client’s son received treatment while hiding from the police. The court was requested to file an FIR against former CO Anuj Chaudhary, former Inspector Anuj Tomar and unknown policemen.
ASP Anuj Chaudhary is currently posted in Firozabad district. He was CO Sambhal during the violence.
However, reacting to the court’s order, Sambhal Superintendent of Police K K Bishnoi said that a judicial inquiry into the violence had already been completed. Hence, the FIR would not be registered and an appeal against the CJM court’s order would be filed in a higher court.
It is pertinent to mention that the Hindu side had claimed that Sambhal’s Jama Masjid was built by Mughal rulers by demolishing the Harihar temple in 1529.
A petition in this regard was filed in the Sambhal court on November 19, 2024. On the same day, Civil Judge (Senior Division) Aditya Singh ordered a survey inside the mosque.
The court appointed Ramesh Singh Raghav as Advocate Commissioner. The team reached the mosque at 4 pm the same day to conduct the survey.
It continued for two hours but could not be completed. On November 21, a second round of the survey was conducted in the presence of both Hindu and Muslim representatives.
However, when the survey team reached the Jama Masjid on November 24, 2024, to conclude the exercise inside the mosque, a large number of people gathered and allegedly began pelting stones at the survey and police teams. This led to massive violence, resulting in the loss of five lives.
Superintendent of Police Krishna Kumar Bishnoi, prominent CO Anuj Chaudhary, a Deputy Collector and 29 policemen were injured in the incident.
After the violence, police arrested 79 alleged rioters and registered a total of 12 FIRs at Sambhal Kotwali and Thana Nakhasa.
One of the FIRs named Samajwadi Party MP Ziaur Rahman Barq and SP MLA Iqbal Mahmood’s son Suhail Iqbal, along with 40 named persons and 2,750 unknown persons.
On June 18, 2025, a Special Investigation Team filed a 1,128-page chargesheet in court against 23 people, including MP Barq. However, SP MLA’s son Suhail Iqbal’s name was not included in the chargesheet.
Earlier, on December 24, 2025, CJM Vibhanshu Sudhir had ordered the registration of an FIR against 13 police personnel, including then Inspector Pankaj Lawania, in an alleged fake encounter case in Sambhal.
As per the court order, the FIR was to be lodged against two inspectors, four sub-inspectors and constables who were posted at the time of the incident.
The court directed the Station House Officer of Bahajoi police station to immediately register the case and submit a report to the court within three days.