An RTI query has been filer after Gurugram Police in a Twitter reply had claimed that Muslims were allowed to offer Namaz at public places on a mutual discussion between Hindus and Muslims. The police had dismissed the allegations of encroachment by calling the land a ‘mutually agreeable Namaz spot’ after residents in Gurugram raised their objection to Namaz being offered in public places causing inconvenience to locals.
Speaking with OpIndia, Akshit singh, Founding member of Hindu IT cell said that as per the rulings of Madras High Court in 2018 had banned the prayers in public places. Following this, Advocate Abhishek Sharma of Gurugram district Court and also a member of the Hindu IT Cell has now filed an RTI seeking details of these namaz spots and the representatives of communities who were part of the ‘mutual agreements’. In his letter to the Public Information Officer, Sharma has also sought information on action taken against the encroachers.
Advocate Abhishek Sharma has sought the list of the alleged ‘namaz spots’ as claimed by Gurugram Police and details of representatives from both Hindu and Muslim communities who permitted the use of the land in question for namaz. He has also sought information on when these ‘namaz spots’ at public places were decided.
BJP leader writes to Gurugram administration
In the meanwhile, BJP leader Raman Malik has also written to the DC of Gurugram seeking the details sought in the RTI query. In a letter written to Gurugram DC Dr. Yash Garg, he has requested details like organisations and people representing Hindus who had attended the meetings, name and addresses of people who had consented to namaz on public places in their area, details of approved namaz and departments which had given the authority to designate public places as namaz spots.
Raman Malik also asked the administration whether public land can be given for perpetual religious activities. He wanted to know under which law this has been allowed, and which department gave the consent and when. He also requested to furnish details of the total area allowed as namaz spots, dimensions and a list of such namaz spots.
He further asked, if Namaz is to performed at public places, what is the need of Mosque, Madrasa and Waqf-Board lands. He also informed that as per the Islamic holy book, offering Namaz on the road and parking spaces is not allowed.
At last, the BJP leader asked if Namaz spots can be allowed on Fridays, whether Hindus, Buddhists and Jains can use public places to offer prayers on various days of the week.
The controversy
In a video that went viral on social media recently, the residents of Gurugram had raised objections to Namaz being offered in public places causing inconvenience to locals.
A man protesting against the encroachment was heard saying, “We pray Hanuman Chalisa at the temples but these people gather around here like this, misbehaving with our daughters and sisters, we are scared of them.”
“Ever since this namaz on the roads has started, incidents of chain snatching, eve-teasing have increased. This illegal namaz on roads should be stopped,” a local resident said. “We will not let illegal masjid or mazar come up here,” informed another resident.
What flared the controversy was the arrest of a man who raised his voice against the encroachment for namaz.
To justify their action, Gurugram Police in a reply to a Twitter user who had shared the video had said, “The Namaz spots at public places have been decided by both Hindu and Muslim communities after mutual understanding and this place is one among them. Maintaining communal harmony and peace is our utmost responsibility and we will ensure that.”
Several users took objection to Gurugram Police’s reply. Netizens questioned as to who were the representatives who decided to allot a public place to Muslims for their namaz, and who chose them to represent all Hindus and Muslims.
Few Questions:
— Niratanka 🇮🇳 (@Niratanka_) September 28, 2021
Q1. Who were representatives from both communities?
Q2. Who choose them to represent all people from Hindu & Muslim communities?
Q3. Why only two communities, are you saying that no Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains & Athiests are living in Gurugram?
However, the reply by Gurugram Police’s Twitter handle has been pulled down now.
The only reply visible says, “The above incident is already in cognisance of Gurugram police and suitable preventative action has already been taken by us. We request the people to pay no heed to any ill intentioned rumour.”
The above incident is already in cognisance of Gurugram police and suitable preventative action has already been taken by us.We request the people to pay no heed to any ill intentioned rumour.@police_haryana @cmohry @PMOIndia
— Gurugram Police (@gurgaonpolice) September 27, 2021
This is not the first instance of Namaz being offered at a public spot despite the presence of a mosque in the vicinity. In May 2018, too, namaz was read in public space at as many as 76 locations in Gurugram under heavy police arrangement amid protests by people against the same.
