Pithoragarh: An inquiry has been ordered after members of a Hindu outfit staged a protest outside the SDM’s office in Berinag here demanding the removal of an ‘illegal’ mosque being run in a house, officials said on Wednesday.
According to the protestors, an abandoned house in Berinag has allegedly been converted illegally into a mosque from inside to offer Namaz.
Protest at SDM’s office
Levelling the allegation, the Hindu outfit Rashtriya Sewa Sangathan staged a protest outside Berinag SDM’s office on October 6 demanding the removal of the illegal mosque.
An inquiry was ordered into the allegation after a memorandum was received from the organisation, Pithoragarh District Magistrate Vinod Girish Goswami said.
“We have demanded the removal of the illegal mosque. If it continues to run, we will have to resort to a nationwide agitation against it,” Himanshu Joshi, founder-president of the outfit, said.
A case under section 196/2 of BNS (promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion) has also been registered against Rashtriya Sewa Sanghathan members after they showed the mosque live on social media some time ago, the officials said.
According to locals, the old house, owned by one Azim who lives in Haldwani, has been used by about 100 Muslim families to offer Namaz for the last 25 years.
A portion of the house is also being used as a madrasa, they said.
From the outside it looks like any other residential house without external signs of its being a mosque but from the inside it has been developed as one, locals said.
