NEW DELHI: A district court on Thursday dismissed the interim bail application of Shahi Jama Masjid president Zafar Ali, whilst scheduling his regular bail petition for April 2, as confirmed by officials.
Additional district judge II Nirbhay Narayan Rai rejected the application, according to additional district government counsel Hariom Prakash Saini.
During the proceedings, Saini stated that whilst Ali’s counsel presented arguments for temporary bail, the prosecution contested it, pointing to severe allegations against him. These included gathering a crowd, provoking violence, causing damage to public property, and misrepresenting facts.
The court, after considering these submissions, declined temporary bail and scheduled the regular bail application for hearing on April 2.
Background of the case
Zafar Ali, the president of the Shahi Jama Masjid Committee in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on March 23, 2025, in connection with the violence that erupted on November 24 last year.
The violence was triggered by a court-ordered survey of the Mughal-era mosque, which had been at the center of a controversy over claims that it was built on the site of an ancient Hindu temple. The protests against the survey escalated into violent clashes between demonstrators and the police, leading to five deaths and injuries to both civilians and law enforcement personnel. Protestors were reported to have thrown stones, set vehicles on fire, and engaged in direct confrontations with the police, who in turn responded with tear gas and other crowd-control measures.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) tasked with probing the incident filed a chargesheet of over 4,000 pages, implicating 159 individuals across several cases. Although Ali was not initially named in the FIRs registered after the violence, authorities later accused him of playing an incendiary role in the unrest. He was charged under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 230 for fabricating false evidence to cause someone’s conviction for a capital offense, Section 231 for giving or fabricating false evidence with the intent to convict someone, and Section 55 for abetting an offense punishable with death or life imprisonment. Police also alleged that he incited people against law enforcement through social media and sought donations under the pretext of supporting victims of the violence.
Ali was arrested from his residence in Sambhal and taken to the Kotwali police station for questioning before being formally taken into custody. His arrest came a day before he was scheduled to testify before a three-member judicial commission investigating the November 24 violence. His elder brother, Tahir Ali, claimed that the arrest was a deliberate attempt to prevent his testimony.
Read more: Police arrest Shahi Jama Masjid committee chief Zafar Ali for criminal conspiracy
Ali’s arrest sparked strong opposition from the legal community in Sambhal, with over 100 lawyers staging a “pen-down strike” in the local cour. The Sambhal Bar Association denounced the move, arguing that framing him under such serious charges months after the incident was unjust. His legal team filed for both interim and permanent bail, with the case for interim bail presented on Thursday and subsequently rejected.
