Sabir Hussain/New Delhi

The Delhi Police has denied that it had banned congregation namaz in some mosques in the national capital last Friday when Shab-e-Barat coincided with Holi.

Former Delhi Minority Commission chairman Zafarul Islam Khan had alleged that Muslims were not allowed to enter certain mosques in Delhi during Shab-e-Barat to offer namaz.

In a tweet, Khan had alleged that Delhi Police did not allow the Friday congregation namaz in 16 mosques of the Panchsheel area of ​​Delhi last week.

Delhi Police PRO Suman Nalwa clarified that those mosques are monuments under the management of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). 

“Police did not ban the Friday congregation namaz in any mosque. Namaz was not allowed in the evening in mosques under the management of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Entry to these monuments is not allowed before sunrise and after sunset according to the ASI’s regulations,” Nalwa said.

Zafarul Islam Khan says Shab-e-Barat namaz which is offered at night was not an issue at all.

“Namaz on Shab-e-Barat is offered at night. The objection was that the police stopped the Friday congregation namaz in some mosques without proper orders. They could have asked the mosque managements to delay the prayers for some time on account of Holi and no one would have had any objection to that,” he said.

According to a media report the Imaam of Lal Gumbad mosque in South Delhi’s Panchsheel area, Niyaz Ahmad said that it was for the first time that Friday prayers were stopped in the last 40 years and that people had eventually had to offer prayers in a park.

In the run up to Holi, many Imams in Uttar Pradesh, including the one at the Jama Masjid in Rampur, had voluntarily told the local administration that they would defer the jumma namaz till 2 pm because Holi celebrations would have subsided by then.