On March 15, Friday prayers at the Makki Jama Masjid in the Inderlok area of Northwest Delhi went off peacefully. Last Friday, while leading “namaz” (prayer), Delhi police sub-inspector Manoj Kumar Tomar and others kicked and punched Muslim worshipers, inciting anger in the community and condemnation from several quarters. There was a heavy presence of police in anticipation of protests from the faithful against the atrocious incident that occurred last Friday, yet they offered namaz in a peaceful manner and left right after. Acting in precaution, the Masjid Management Committee too deployed its volunteers during the Juma prayers.
However, speaking with Radiance, local Muslims said the incident showed how a community is being “dehumanized in people’s eyes.” They claimed that traffic disruptions cannot be a discriminatory issue when police personnel toss flowers at Kanwarias, who clog roads. There cannot be a double standard in dealing with such situations. Many of them asserted, however, that Islam does not teach us to cause hardship to others and that we should refrain from performing namaz on public highways since it impedes traffic flow.
Abdul Ahad Qureishi, chairman of Minority Department of Delhi Congress Committee, told Radiance that he has been living in the locality for a long time but has never witnessed such a disgusting thing. We cooled down the tempers of youths who wanted to continue protesting against police behavior, he added.
Undoubtedly, the actions of police personnel attracted widespread condemnation. Uttar Pradesh Ex-DGP Vikram Singh said,“Mere suspension is not enough; a case should also be filed against him, and he should be relieved,” adding that the cop involved in the incident “should not be seen as the brand ambassador of the police.”
Terming the incident as ‘a disgraceful stain on the uniform’, Singh said the incident of kicking people who were offering prayers has raised questions on the functioning of the Delhi Police. “This shows insensitivity as well as a lack of training and proper guidance. The incident has tainted the uniform, and this ugly stain is not going to go away easily. This incident seems to last for a few seconds, but its echo and negativity will last for years,” he said, adding that the job of the police is neither to shower flowers nor to kick a person while offering namaz.
Apart from the incident, with the increase in population, the paucity of space in mosques has become a major problem in major towns and cities. Civic authorities do not permitbuilding new mosques or extending the floor index of existing mosques. There is not enough room in mosques for Friday prayers. In some mosques, Friday prayers are offered twice in congregation due to large presence of Muslims. The same is the problem in Inderlok area, which is a resettlement locality of Muslims who had been shifted from Sarai Khalil during Emergency. This area is home to about 15,000 Muslims. Makki Masjid and Mohammadi Masjid are two major mosques situated on the roadside, but they do notaccommodate all namazis at a time.
Numerous Delhi mosques under the control of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) are prohibited from performing namaz. As per the Delhi Gazette declaration, there are 827 mosques in Delhi. Of these, only 193 are under the administration of Delhi Waqf Board (DWB), and prayer is offered in all of these mosques, according to information obtained from the Board through an RTI about seven or eight years ago.
The ASI is unlawfully occupying 156 such Waqf properties in Delhi, according to information provided by DWB. Among the properties on this list were Jama Masjid inside Kotla Feroz Shah; Moti Masjid inside the Red Fort; Hailey Road Masjid near Connaught Place; Syed Abid Tomb in the Delhi Golf Club compound; Begum Jan Tomb and Masjid; Kohna Masjid inside Old Fort; Masjid and Madrasa inside Safdarjung Tomb; Green Park Blue Mosque and Makhdoom Masjid; Hauz Khas Masjid; Feroz Shah Tughlaq Tomb; Lodhi Road Masjid; Dawood Sarai Masjid; and Jamali Tomb Kamali; Moti Mosque inside Dargah Hazrat Bakhtiar Kaki in Mehrauli, Arab Ki Sarai Mosque in Nizamuddin locality, Begumpur Mosque, and Khair Manzil Mosque on Mathura Road; and Qudsia Bagh Masjid located near ISBT Kashmiri Gate, etc. And the four mosques in the Lodhi Garden.
The DWBasserts that several important tombs and mosques are “under illegal encroachment by the Department of Archaeology.” Out of 156 waqf properties under the possession of ASI, 38 are mosques.
The ASI, in its RTI response,states,“33 mosques or mosques connected to a tomb fall under the ASI, Delhi Division’s list of Central Monuments.” In addition, it provided a list of 12 mosques, of which just three are currently open for worship – Sunehri Mosque, Neli Mosque, and Palam Mosque. The DWB claims that ASI has taken control of the remaining mosques; however, it is unclear where they have vanished. These mosques under ASI are not in good condition.
There is much more to this tale. As many as 114 waqf properties are illegally possessed by Delhi Development Authority (DDA), according to documents received through an RTI from DWB. The DDA has recently demolished the Akhondji mosque and a madrasa in Mehrauli.
Furthermore, this list of 114 waqf properties occupied illegally includes 18 mosques. Twenty-six waqf properties in Delhi are ‘illegally occupied’ by other government agencies. Twelve mosques are listed among the waqf holdings with “26 illegal possessions.” According to the records, the railways “illegally occupied” and “martyred” a semi-detached mosque, owned by the DWB, located next to the Old Rohtak Road railway account office. There is a madrasa and mosque in Mehrauli, which are under the “illegal occupation” of MCD. Records also show that the DWB had a small mosque at Lady Hardinge Hospital in Delhi, which is currently being used by the hospital’s management as a “store room.”
What comes next is even more concerning. According to Waqf Board records, 373 DWB assets are allegedly under the ‘illegal ownership’ of ‘overbearing’ clerics in Delhi and other parties. These ‘illegal occupations’ contain the names of 138 mosques, including Kasturba Gandhi Marg Masjid, Ferozshah Kalan Masjid, and Chakkar Wali Masjid in Basti Nizamuddin.
So the problem is two-pronged.Civic authorities, taking a cue from Bombay Municipal Corporation which granted FSI to all mosques to overcome the issue of namaz on roads, need to permit floor index extension. And liberate the mosques fromadverse possession of different agencies and ‘overbearing’ persons.