SP leaders stopped from visiting Sambhal

Lucknow/Sambhal: Several Samajwadi Party (SP) lawmakers, including its Sambhal MP, were stopped from entering the violence-hit Sambhal district on Saturday as the administration extended a ban on the entry of outsiders and public representatives into the area till December 10 to maintain "peace and order".

The ban on outsiders' entry was to expire on Saturday. Later, the SP announced that it would give Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the four people who died in violence in Sambhal over a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque. It also demanded that the state government give Rs 25 lakh each to the victims' families.

Reacting to the decision to clamp prohibitory orders in the area, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said, "Imposing a ban is the failure of the BJP government's governance, administration and government management. Had the government imposed such a ban earlier on those who dreamed of triggering riots and made people raise frenzied slogans, the atmosphere of harmony and peace in Sambhal would not have been spoiled." The SP had announced that a 15-member delegation would visit Sambhal to collect information about the violence that broke out over the Shahi Jama Masjid's survey.

Curbs under section 163 (power to issue order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), set to expire on Sunday, have now been extended till December 31.