Hindutva mob assaults Muslims offering namaz in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani, beats up Imam

A Hindutva mob on Monday night assaulted a group of Muslim men offering namaz in an attempt to stop the prayers in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani. The Imam was also reportedly, attacked.

The men were offering Taraweeh, special prayers offered during the holy month of Ramzan when the members of the right-wing organisation Bajrang Dal came in to disrupt the prayers around 8.30 pm in Sarna Kothi, an area dominated by Hindus.

According to a report in Scroll, prayers were being offered at a lawyer’s house. The lawyer, Zafar Siddique, said that they were attacked by the mob that came up to around 50-60 members of the Bajrang Dal and was led by local Hindutva leader Mukesh Bhat.

The mob reportedly slapped the Imam and assaulted another worshipper, who suffered injuries. “They tried to attack me as well but someone told them that I am a lawyer and then they backed off,” he said.

Siddique claimed that police officials who were present during the attack remained silent and accused the district administration of supporting the mob.

Based on a complaint, police registered a case under Sections 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

“We have done medical [medico-legal formalities] of the injured and preserved the CCTV footage and further action will be taken accordingly,” Nanital Senior Superintendent of Police Pankaj Bhatt said, as quoted by Scroll.

Following the attack, the Muslim residents gathered outside the police station and held a demonstration.

A day before the ruckus, the local police had called Siddique on the phone and said that the authorities had received complaints about the prayers. He was asked to meet the superintendent of police.

The building in which the prayers were offered is owned by Siddique. The city magistrate sealed three rooms of the building alleging that the structure is built on “nazul land”, Bhatt said.

Nazul land is a type of property whose ownership has reverted to the state (in instances such as an owner dying without any legal heirs), which it can then lease out.

But Siddique challenged the claims, saying that Muslims in the locality have been holding prayers on the premises for the last 20 years. “The basement is a prayer hall where we have been holding namaz throughout the year,” the lawyer added.

Siddique said that the people had objected to namaz five years ago as well but the police intervened and ensured that the prayers continued without any problems. He said that the authorities have allowed them to use one room for namaz.

This is the fourth reported incident of namaz being stopped since the beginning of Ramadan last month.

On March 24, a group of Bajrang Dal members had barged into the basement of a commercial building in Moradabad, where around two dozen Muslims had gathered for Taraweeh prayers. The mob was led by the group’s state president Rohan Saxena.

The Bajrang Dal filed a complaint after which the police asked the Muslims of the area to offer prayers in their homes or religious places, a police statement said.

The police also issued a notice to Zakir Hussain, who had organised the prayer meeting in his warehouse, asking why he should not be penalised with a fine of Rs 5 lakh “for disturbing the peace” in the area.

On the same day, residents of Ecociti Apartment in Noida’s Sector 137 called the police, objecting to namaz being held in the apartment complex. A team from the Sector 142 police station arrived and stopped the prayers.

On March 26, Muslims in Supertech Eco-village II apartment complex in Greater Noida could not offer namaz after around 60-70 Hindu residents opposed it. They claimed that “outsiders” praying at the society was a security risk.