Syed Khalique Ahmed & Rasheeduddin Khaja | India Tomorrow

 

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 9—Some antisocial elements locked the Bijwasan village mosque in Delhi, bordering Gurugram district of Haryana, after forcibly evicting the Imam from the premises on Saturday evening.

 

However, the police removed the locks and picked up the two accused persons after a local Muslim Dr. Intizar Khan called up the police.

 

Those detained by the police were Manjit Khatri, son of Bhagwan Khatri and Pramod, son of Mange Ram.

 

Dr. Khan said that three youths of the village, including Rakesh alias Rocky, son of Chandrabhan, were visiting the mosque Imam for the last few days and asking him to vacate the mosque. These youths came during day time when the local Muslims had gone out for work. There are only four Muslim families who are native of the village.

 

“We did not take it seriously when the Imam of the mosque Lal Mohammed complained about it”, said Dr. Khan. On Friday, they threatened the Imam that they would demolish the mosque and also asked the Imam to leave the place immediately”.

 

“Manjit and Pramod came to the mosque after Maghrib(evening) prayers were over on Saturday. They verbally abused the Imam, pulled him out and put a lock on the main gate of the mosque”, narrated Dr Khan.

 

“After Imam informed to me, I immediately called the police. Additional Station House Officer (SHO) of Kapashera police station, under whose jurisdiction the village comes, rushed to the place. He removed the lock and also nabbed the accused persons-Manjit and Pramod”, said Dr. Khan.

 

Dr. Khan said that he also requested the police officer to register FIR against the accused persons so that such incidents were not repeated.

 

However, a Sub Inspector Anil of Kapashera police station, when contacted, said, “A minor incident had taken place in Bijwasan and we solved it last night itself. We also removed the lock from the mosque”.

 

This is not for the first time that local “dabangs” or musclemen are harassing the local Muslims. They have not been allowing the calling of “azaan” from the mosque for the last over one year. They are also not allowing any Muslim from outside the village to offer daily five times prayers or even Friday prayers. There are about 300 Muslims from outside living in rented houses in the village but they are not allowed to pray in the mosque on account of them being outsiders to the village.

 

This has created problems for Muslims from outside as they are not able to pray in the mosque. For Friday prayers, they have to go to other mosques about five to 10 kms away from the village.

 

They also don’t allow calling of “azaan” by using mike. This mischief is happening in the national capital, not in any remote area.

 

Is this the same ‘New India’ about which Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at length in his speech after ‘shilanyas’ of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya on August 5?  Will Prime Minister intervene and ensure that the culprits involved in the locking of the Bijwasan mosque are arrested and punished as per law?