Residents of Grant Road in Mumbai on October 25 moved the Bombay High Court against the state archaeological department’s “unjust and arbitrary decision” of not allowing them to use August Kranti Maidan to offer namaaz on Eid al-Adha. The residents have been using the ground to offer namaaz on Eid for about half a century now. The petition was filed by businessman Umer Abdul Jabbar Goplani who said that in the past 50 years the authorities concerned never had a problem. He said locals gather at the ground in large numbers because there is no masjid in the locality.
A communication, dated September 14, from the department denied local Muslims permission to offer namaaz, saying the ground can only host political rallies and functions on Independence Day, Republic Day and Maharashtra Day.
The petition, filed through advocates Amin Solkar and Yakub Shaikh, said authorities have allowed Christians and Jains to organise their functions on the ground this year, and only they (the petitioners) are being denied permission. Solkar said, “It is possible that authorities rejected the petition due to the Azad Maidan violence. But they should have considered the reason in this case, which was offering namaaz on important days.” The petition also states that when the petitioners approached the Gamdevi police for permission, the police did not hesitate in granting it. The petition prayed that the archaeological department’s order of rejection should be quashed and set aside.