Gurugram namaz row: Contempt plea in SC seeks action against officials for inaction over disruption, anti-Muslim sloganeering

Former Member of Parliament Mohammad Adeeb has filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court demanding action against officers of the Haryana government for failing to take appropriate action against Hindutva elements who disrupts offering of namaz on Fridays at certain designated open sites in Gurugram.

Action has been sought against the Chief Secretary and the Director-General of Police of State of Haryana, Sanjeev Kaushal IAS and PK Agrawak IPS respectively.

“While presently only certain elements are carrying out a hateful campaign, the inaction of the police in preventing the said persons despite prior information repeatedly given by the present petitioner and others is contempt,” the plea has said.

The petitioner has raised concerns over the “nefarious” design, in which the entire circumstances are unfolding. “This nefarious design being given effect to by propagation and dissemination of hateful content through social media platforms spreading false narratives, terming the performance of Friday Namaz, which is being done in the open due to compulsion and the same is permitted by the appropriate authorities in the circumstances as being illegal and in a manner of some sort of encroachment,” the plea has stated.

Adeeb’s plea has maintained that the namaz is offered at open sites due to compulsion as there is not sufficient number of mosques in the city.

The plea contends that since April 2021, the local residents and the persons coming to perform Friday prayers have been facing such malicious and hateful campaigns at the sites of such prayers.

On April 9, the local residents of the area had given a complaint to the Station House Officer of the Sushant Lok police station in Gurugram city against one Dinesh Bharti, who claims to be a member of a group called “Bharat Mata Vahini” and is one of the key forces behind the disruption of namaz and hateful sloganeering in Gurugram.

“The complaint had clearly stated that the said person, along with few others, is constantly creating hurdles in performance of namaz at the designated locations while no action is being taken against him”, the petition alleges.