35 held for attempts to thwart namaz in Gurugram; being harassed, say devotees

The right-wing activists started gathering at the Sector 12A crossing and started protesting before people started offering prayers.

At least 35 people associated with different Hindu groups were detained by Gurugram police for trying to disrupt namaz by Muslim devotees in Sector 12A on Friday afternoon. More than 500 officers were deployed at five designated namaz sites to ensure law and order. No violence was reported and prayers were offered peacefully, police said.

Hindu activists being detained during a protest against namaz offered by Muslim devotees in an open ground, at Sector 12 market, in Gurugram on Friday. (Vipin Kumar /HT PHOTO)

Fellow members of the groups sat on protest around 7pm at the deputy commissioner’s office against the detention.

KK Rao, commissioner of police, said, “Directions were earlier issued that anyone found shouting religious slogans or trying to disrupt namaz would be taken to the nearest police station. Police teams had been deployed since early morning at all five sites to check any unlawful activity and crime teams were deployed in plain clothes,” he said.

Units of right wing organisations have been protesting against offering namaz in the open since September. Following a memorandum submitted to the administration by a consortium of Hindu groups on October 26, police were deployed again this week.

The right-wing activists started gathering at the Sector 12A crossing and started protesting before people started offering prayers.

A group of people led by Kulbhusban Bharadwaj, a member of the Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti, a consortium of 22 local units of right wing organisations, assembled at the crossing but before they could move towards the namaz site police caught hold of them and forced them to board a police bus and drove them away. After half an hour another group of people, mainly women residents of the area, assembled outside a medical shop at the crossing and started shouting slogans; the cops picked them up too and took them to the police station.

Gurugram police had deployed more than 500 cops from all police stations, crime units, rapid action force (RAF) and other intelligence teams. Police barricaded the namaz area from all four sides to ensure no security or law-and-order problem arose, and all possible precautions were taken as the Hindu groups had threatened that they would not let the Muslims offer prayers.

Prayers in sectors 47, 14, 56, DLF Phase 3, and other areas were peaceful, police said.

Police said the residents of Sector 47 and other areas did not enter the prayer grounds and no one objected anywhere except in Sector 12A.

Rao said a fringe group started staging protests earlier this year which intensified in September at a site in Sector 47. “Residents and locals joined the protest, chanting Hindu prayers at the time of namaz on consecutive Fridays over the past few weeks,” he said.

Two memorandums were given by different groups to the district administration in the last few days demanding a complete ban on namaz in the open area and they have been threatening to not allow prayers in places other than mosques and Idgahs.

At present, Muslims offer namaz at 37 different places on government land, identified by the district administration.

The Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti had earlier carried out protests in May 2018. After that, the administration discussed the issue with both communities and designated 37 sites in the city for namaz.

While being taken in the police bus on Friday, the protesters shouted slogans against Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and vowed to return once out of custody. “Police can arrest us, beat us but cannot keep us from protesting. We will return next Friday and until the open namaz is stopped, we will not stay quiet. It’s an open challenge and we will make sure no government land is used for open prayers. The government is providing protection to those encroaching on government land and we are being punished for taking steps,” said Bharadwaj.

Ramesh Kumar, a Samiti member who has been a part of the protests, said, “The police are not ready to listen to us... This will lead to bigger issues and will take an ugly turn, resulting in violence.”

Ankita Choudhary, sub-divisional magistrate of Gurugram who was deployed at the Sector 12A site, said some people assembled in the area and they were requested by police and the administration to not cause any disruption but they did not listen and started shouting slogans. “They were taken into preventive custody to maintain law and order and the site was cleared so people could offer prayers,” she said.

Members of the Muslim community said they were being harassed by the protesters and they were being targeted for no reason. They demanded designated land so that they could set up mosques, after which they would not have to offer prayers in the open.

Altaf Ahmad of the Gurgaon Nagrik Ekta Manch said right wing groups have been making false allegations that Muslims offering namaz are outsiders. “All the people who come here to offer namaz are locals, why will anyone from other cities, districts or states come to Gurugram to offer namaz? We are being targeted unnecessarily and Hindu groups want to give it a communal angle and are provoking our men,” he said.

Haji Shehzad Khan, chairman of the Muslim Ekta Manch, said if given space for a mosque they would not pray in the open. “Just because people are creating a ruckus, we should move to another spot is no justice to us. People offer namaz near their workplace and it’s a break for them, why should they travel to remember God? Spreading hate and lies, shouting slogans against Muslims and disrupting Friday namaz has become a focal point for right wing groups in Gurugram,” he said.