Delhi HC declines to urgently list plea against ‘stopping of prayers’ at Mughal Mosque near Qutub Minar

The management committee of the mosque outside the Qutub Minar told the court that people regularly offered namaz at the mosque, but last month it was stopped without notice.

Mughal Mosque, Mughal Mosque prayers, Delhi Hc on Mughal Mosque, Delhi news, Indian express

The court was told that the people were regularly offering namaz at the mosque but last month, it was suddenly stopped without notice.

A Delhi High Court vacation bench on Monday refused to pass an order for urgent listing of a petition challenging the alleged stopping of prayers at a mosque in south Delhi by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The mosque is located in the periphery of Qutub Minar.

The division bench headed by acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi had also declined urgent listing of the case on Friday last week. The mentioning was declined on Monday by a division bench headed by Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri, saying there is no urgency in the matter.

Advocate M Sufian Siddiqui, representing the management committee of the mosque, made the mentioning. Siddiqui submitted that namaz was regularly performed at the mosque, but “the officials of the ASI, in an absolutely unlawful, arbitrary and precipitous manner, completely stopped the namaz on May 13, 2022, that too without serving any notice or order”.

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Siddiqui also submitted that the fundamental rights of the worshippers stand violated on a continuous basis, and to ensure that the primacy of ‘Rule of Law’ is preserved and upheld, the matter must be listed for urgent hearing. However, the court did not accede to the request.

The Mughal Mosque is situated at the entrance of the Qutub Complex and is different from the nearby Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque. “The mosque is situated within the ‘Qutab Complex’, however, it is outside the ‘Qutab Enclosure’. It is a duly Gazette Notified Waqf property vide notification dated 16.04.1970, and there is a duly appointed imam and moazin,” said Siddiqui.

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