Row breaks out at Greater Noida complex over Ramzan prayers, police called

In view of the commotion over the prayers, residents from the Muslim community told the police that they too will not offer prayers at the open space designated by the builder this time but at home or at a mosque

A row broke out at an apartment complex in Greater Noida after a section of residents objected to some people from outside the complex offering namaz in a vacant area inside the premises on Monday evening.

Rambadan Singh, deputy commissioner of police (Central Noida) said the matter was amicably resolved and police personnel deployed as a precautionary measure (TwitterScreengrab)

A team of local police officers was deployed following a complaint from some residents of the Supertech Ecovillage-2 complex about the non-residents coming to a portion of the commercial mart of the complex for prayers. They told the police that they were objecting to non-residents coming to the complex for Ramzan prayers, not residents from the Muslim community.

In view of the commotion over the prayers, residents from the Muslim community told the police that they too will not offer prayers at the open space designated by the builder this time but at home or a mosque.

Rambadan Singh, deputy commissioner of police (Central Noida) said the matter was amicably resolved.

“The Muslim residents of the society have given it in writing that they will not offer namaz in the public area in the market and will do it either at their home or at their place of worship. As a precautionary measure, the police force has been deployed in the area in case of any untoward incident and to maintain law and order here,” the senior police officer said.

Anil Rajput, station house officer of Bisrakh police station said the police reached the spot after receiving information of a row at about 8.30pm. “The builder of the society had given some space on the third floor of the commercial market of the society for residents to offer namaz during Ramzan. This space was created on the third floor of the commercial complex. Here, around 30 to 40 people were coming every day to offer namaz. However, the society residents objected to non-residents coming here from outside to offer the namaz,” Rajput said.

A resident of the society, who did not wish to be named, said the concern of the residents was in the context of the complex’s security since the commercial mart is located inside the complex.

“Out of the 30-40 people who were offering namaz at the public place in the market in the last week, only about 10 people were from our society and the rest were from outside. Hence, residents only objected to those coming from outside the society to pray here whereas there were no issues with residents of our society using the space for praying,” he said.

A police statement, however, put the number of non-residents who offered prayers at 7-8 people.