In the face of popular protest against Namaz at open places at Gurugram in Haryana, a Muslim outfit, Gurgaon Muslim Council headed by a former MP has approached the Supreme Court.
The outfit has demanded contempt proceedings against concerned officials of the Haryana government for their alleged failure to stop the disruption of Friday Namaz.
The petition was filed by former Rajya Sabha MP Mohammad Adeeb who also heads Gurgaon Muslim Council. Besides, he leads a 21-member delegation to resolve the dispute over Namaz at public places.
Adeeb in his petition has referred to the court order on measures to be taken to curb the “communal and violent tendencies leading to hate crimes”.
The former MP has referred to one such direction given by the court in the Tehseen S Poonawalla vs Union of India case in 2018. In the light of the above, he has sought action against Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal and Director General of Police PK Agarwal for their alleged failure to comply with the Supreme Court’s directions. He said that the state machinery instead of taking effective measures to prevent disruptions of Namaz remains inactive.
“The continuous inaction, the apathy of the State machinery and failure of the local law enforcement agencies to prevent such incidents before these spiral into a monstrosity, is precisely what had been indicated by this Hon’ble court in Tehseen S. Poonawalla case, and is thus clearly a contempt of this Hon’ble court’s directions,” he said.
This Muslim outfit has said that it has planned to approach the high court on several other issues related to the community namely inadequate space to offer Namaz and land not being available to build mosques.
The petitioner claimed that as early as April 2021, people coming to offer Namaz at 37 designated spaces at Gurugram are targeted with malicious and hateful campaigns at the prayer sites by certain elements.
Adeeb said that despite prior information the police remain inactive to stop any disruption of Namaz. He claimed that complaints were filed with Commissioner of Police, Gurugram.
Justifying Namaz at the open space, Adeeb claimed that Muslims of Gurugram have been performing Friday prayers peacefully and without causing any disturbance. He contended that they use public places for the limited purpose of performing Namaz after approval from the relevant government authorities and the same can’t be termed as encroachment, he contended.
Momentum against Namaz at public places gain ground in Gurgaon
For the past several weeks Hindus of Gurugram have been peacefully protesting against the illegal occupation of public places by Muslims to offer Friday Namaz.
Residents allege that people face inconvenience due to huge gatherings on Friday. It creates traffic problems besides the cases of eve-teasing and chain snatching too have increased and women felt threatened.
Fear of residents is not unfounded that this is nothing but a slow process of encroachment of public land where they will ultimately build mosques. Muslims argue that they offer Namaz at public places because they don’t have spaces and the Namaz is offered in the community. There have been instances where Muslims have traveled 50 km to offer Namaz at public places at Gurugram.
Following criticism, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar said that namaz in open spaces will not be tolerated in Haryana. Khattar said that people of all faith should offer prayers in their own personal space or areas designated for worship. Namaz should be read in Mosques or Idgahs rather than public spaces. He cautioned against any trespassing on public spaces at Gurugram under the guise of conducting religious prayer.
