A distressing video appeared on social media that showed people in Gurugram, Haryana, in a state of discomfort and fear caused by public offering of Namaz by some Muslims in the area.
https://twitter.com/mvmeet/status/1442084996311703552?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe video showed people protesting against the public Namaz offering and a man arguing with the police saying that ‘Asking questions does not mean instigating riots’ and raised safety concern about the situation. He also asked why did the police detain a person who was also protesting against the Namaz offering. The man also claimed that there was a mosque within a distance of 2 kilometers from that place and criticized the police of not being able to take any action.
Another man said, ‘We pray Hanuman Chalisa at the temples but these people gather around here like this, misbehaving with our daughters and sisters, we are scared of them’.
According to Hindu groups, such groups carry out public namaz in a bid to encroach land illegally by eventually constructing dargahs. The local residents said that the women felt threatened because of the same. “Ever since this namaz on the roads has started, incidents of chain snatching, eve teasing have increased. This illegal namaz on roads should be stopped,” a local resident said. “We will not let illegal masjid or mazar come up here,” another resident said.
“The way Meerut girl was killed and the Faridabad girl was killed, same fate awaits our daughters,” one of the local residents opposing the public namaz said. “Police is not doing anything because they have orders from the top to take action against us instead,” he said.
According to reports, the people living in the Gurugram sector 47 were disturbed by this large gathering of Muslim men in their neighborhood for Namaz offering. This Namaz offering was being done at a public place. Local people gathered at the scene protested against the Muslim men crowding around their place and accused them of breaking law and order.
Earlier, too, protests have taken place against public offering of namaz in Gurugram. In March this year, local residents had protested against public namaz offering in sector 40, Gurugram when Hindu organisations had appealed to administration to seek discontinuation of prayer. In May 2018, too, namaz was read in public space at as many as 76 locations in Gurugram under heavy police arrangement amid protests by people against the same.