Five people were killed and many were injured in clashes that followed protests over a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Chandausi, in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district.

The police have arrested dozens of people and registered cases against 400 people. The UP government has ordered a judicial probe into the violence.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has described the survey and the violence as a “well-planned conspiracy aimed at hurting communal harmony”. There are also multiple versions of who fired at the protesters, causing their deaths.

So, why did the civil court order a survey of the Jama Masjid? What was the chain of events that led to the deaths of five young men? What is the constitutional basis for raising legal questions over religious structures? Can any and every religious structure be surveyed if someone files a petition claiming it’s built on the site of another place of worship? 

Guest: Ziya Us Salam, Associate Editor, The Hindu.

Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.

Edited by Jude Francis Weston

(Background construction noise was unavoidable, which impacted the audio quality of this recording. We apologize for the inconvenience.)