Lucknow: Sambhal district witnessed the transfer of two Chief Judicial Magistrates (CJMs) within a span of 48 hours following objections raised by lawyers.
CJM Aditya Singh was transferred to Sambhal from Chandausi on promotion as Civil Judge (Senior Division) during a judicial reshuffle on Wednesday, but was sent back to Chandausi on Friday.
Aditya Singh had replaced Vibhanshu Sudhir in Sambhal. Sudhir was transferred to Sultanpur as Civil Judge (Senior Division).
Notably, Aditya Singh is the same judicial officer who had ordered a court survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in November 2024 during his earlier posting in western Uttar Pradesh.
Vibhanshu Sudhir is also the judicial officer who, on January 9, ordered the registration of an FIR against a dozen police personnel, including then circle officer Anuj Chaudhury and station house officer Anuj Tomar, in connection with the violence that rocked Sambhal on November 24, 2024, leaving five persons dead and scores, including policemen, injured.
Additionally, Naved Akhtar was appointed Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), Chandausi, from his earlier posting as Civil Judge (Junior Division), Sambhal. Aditya Singh had been promoted just two days earlier.
According to sources, Aditya Singh was shifted again within 48 hours as lawyers were reportedly unhappy with his posting in Sambhal. The Allahabad High Court had carried out a major reshuffle on Tuesday evening, transferring 14 judges.
Sources said lawyers were upset after the transfer of Vibhanshu Sudhir and staged a protest on Wednesday near Chandausi Kotwali against the government.
They raised slogans against the Uttar Pradesh government and the police administration, calling the transfer a “murder of justice”. Lawyers alleged that a “good judge” was being demoted and claimed that the transfer followed his order directing an FIR against police personnel.
Reacting to the developments, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav described the transfers as an irregularity and urged the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court of India to take cognisance of the matter.
The issue is linked to a petition filed by Yameen, a resident of Mohalla Khaggu Sarai Anjuman under Sambhal’s Nakhasa police station area.
In his plea filed in the CJM court on February 6, 2025, Yameen alleged that his son Alam had left home on November 24, 2024, to sell rusk (toast) and was allegedly shot by police when he reached the Shahi Jama Masjid area.
Yameen named 12 policemen, including then CO Sambhal Anuj Chaudhary and Sambhal Kotwali inspector Anuj Tomar, as accused. The case was heard on January 9, 2026, when the Chief Judicial Magistrate ordered the registration of an FIR 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 register an FIR against former CO Anuj Chaudhary, former inspector Anuj Tomar and unknown policemen. Anuj Chaudhary, now posted as an additional superintendent of police in Firozabad district, was the CO of Sambhal at the time of the violence.
However, reacting to the court’s order, Sambhal superintendent of police KK Bishnoi said 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 before a higher court.
The violence has its roots in a dispute over the Shahi Jama Masjid. The Hindu side has claimed that the mosque was built by Mughal rulers after allegedly demolishing the Harihar temple in 1529.
A petition in this regard was filed in a 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 survey team reached the mosque at 4 pm on November 19 and conducted the exercise for two hours, but it could not be completed that day.
A second round of the survey was carried out on November 21 in the presence of both Hindu and Muslim representatives.
On November 24, 2024, when the survey team reached the Jama Masjid to conclude the exercise, a large crowd gathered and allegedly began pelting stones at the survey and police teams.
This led to large-scale violence in which five people were killed. Superintendent of police Krishna Kumar Bishnoi, then CO Anuj Chaudhary, a deputy collector and 29 policemen were injured in the incident.
Following the violence, police arrested 79 people accused of rioting and registered 12 FIRs at Sambhal Kotwali and Nakhasa police stations. One of the FIRs named Samajwadi Party MP Ziaur Rahman Barq, SP MLA Iqbal Mahmood’s son Suhail Iqbal, 40 named accused and 2,750 unknown persons.