The court rejected the Centre and Delhi Police’s submission that only 20 people be allowed to enter the premises for prayers at a time out of a police-verified list of 200 persons.
The court recorded the central government counsel’s statement that the mosque can be made operational for devotees to offer prayers subject to the guidelines issued by DDMA regarding social distancing in the wake of rise of Covid cases in Delhi, and that names of mosque management be given by the Waqf Board to the local SHO.
It also recorded the statement of the counsel representing Centre and Delhi Waqf Board that a joint inspection of the mosque will be carried out by the SHO of Police Station Hazrat Nizamuddin and office bearers of the mosque in presence of the Waqf Board member Himal Akhter and advocate Wajeeh Shafiq.
Masjid Bangley Wali, Madarsa Kashif-ul-uloom and the attached hostel situated at Basti Hazrat Nizamuddin have been locked since March 2020, the plea of Delhi Waqf Board through advocate Wajeeh Shafiq states, adding the general public is not allowed to enter and offer prayers at the mosque; the students are not allowed to continue with their education at Madrasa; and nobody is allowed to stay at the hostel meant for principal clerics and their immediate family members.
“The Delhi Waqf Board has learnt that the local police has prepared a list of only 5-6 persons of the locality who alone can enter the mosque for the purpose of prayers.
The local police opens locks at the main entrance, allows them to enter at the time of prayers; after the prayers are over, those people come out and immediately thereafter the police lock the main entrance again,†the board has said in the petition.
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