Return from Kanwar yatra, man stopped from offering Namaz

BAGHPAT: Muslim man alleged to be prevented from offering Namaz at a mosque late on Friday night for participating in Kanwar yatra prompting the police to arrest three persons.

According to leading agency reports, the man identified as a farmer named Babu Khan, a resident of Racharh village of the district, in his complaint registered with the police alleged:

“I had gone to Haridwar as a Kanwar and offered water at the temples. On Friday, when I went to a mosque, some people assaulted me and stopped me from offering Namaz. They even forced me to run away from there,” Babu Khan.

However, the opposing group alleged that Babu was trying to enter the mosque in an inebriated state and when confronted him from entering the mosque, he became abusive.

“He added the Kanwar Yatra angle only to exaggerate things to gain sympathy,”aid Haroon Ahmad, a resident of the village, reported TOI.

Qazi Zainus Sajidin, senior cleric and Sheher Qazi of Meerut reacting on the issue told TOI, “It is Khan’s personal choice but there are certain rules and regulations that bind the follower of a certain faith towards that particular religion. For instance in Islam, worshipping multiple gods is not permitted. Similarly, he is not given permission to bow his head in front of any other god. And if he is doing something of that sort, his faith in his own religion becomes doubtful and that definitely irks others who are of his own community because somewhere he is setting a precedent which is not acceptable in the eyes of that faith.”