LUCKNOW, Nov. 27 -- Over 47 years after the Sambhal riots of 1978, the issue is back in the spotlight even as memories of the violence that rocked the west UP town last year remain fresh. The violence that erupted during a court-mandated survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid on November 24, 2024 in Sambhal and claimed four lives paved the way for the past to be put on centre stage. The recent controversy traces back to November 19, 2024, when the Hindu side claimed that the Shahi Jama Masjid was originally the Shri Harihar Mandir. The same day, the mosque was surveyed in its first phase, followed by a second phase on November 24 triggering violence that left four people dead. A confidential two-part report of a three-member judicial commission headed by Justice (Retd) Devendra Kumar Arora placed the 2024 incident in the context of Sambhal's long and turbulent history of communal clashes, according to officials familiar with the findings. The commission submitted the report to chief minister Yogi Adityanath in August this year. The report claimed that the district witnessed 15 riots between 1936 and 2019, resulting in 213 deaths - 209 of them Hindus, according to people privy to the findings. The inquiry drew special attention to the 1978 Sambhal riot, describing it as the most brutal episode in the district's communal history. The report stated that as many as 184 Hindus were killed with no Muslim casualties reported. The report further mentioned the loss of 68 sacred sites and 19 holy wells, many of which were seized through appeasement politics, in Sambhal, according to the official. The present state government has initiated efforts to reclaim these sites. The commission highlights that these figures diverge sharply from contemporary public records. A widely circulated April 1978 news report put the death toll at just 15, while other official entries of that period cited 24 deaths, far lower than the toll mentioned in the commission's report....