Centre Asks Delhi High Court to Disallow Prayers at Nizamuddin Markaz During Ramadan

New Delhi: The centre, in a turnaround, instructed the Delhi High Court to not allow devotees to gather in the Nizamuddin Markaz during the holy month of Ramzan as all religious gatherings have been banned under new disaster management rules in the capital. This decision came after the centre allowed the devotees to pray in the Nizamuddin Markaz just the day before ruling their own decision out. 

This case traces its roots back to the Tablighi Jamaat incident during the onset of the first wave of coronavirus. The Masjid Bangley Wali in Nizamuddin in south Delhi where the gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat sect took place has been shut since March last year after a case was registered against the Jamaatis for breaching COVID protocols and intentionally spreading the deadly virus. This incident received widespread national outrage. 

The Delhi Waqf Board has pleaded to the Delhi High Court to relax the restrictions imposed on the devotees to pray inside the mosque. 

The centre stated that only 20 people can be allowed to enter the complex for prayers at a time from a list of 200 people verified by the police. The Delhi High Court on Monday reacted sharply to this statement. 

The court also asked the centre to give its stand banning all religious, political, academic, social, and sports gatherings in an affidavit. 

After the Delhi Waqf Board stated to the Delhi High Court that it would be a difficult task to make a list of 200, the court responded by saying that the mosque did not need a fixed number of devotees when no other place of religious worship does. Read more

We need to keep in mind that this decision from the centre comes in the midst of the ongoing controversial Kumbh Mela 2021 in Hardwar, where devotees by the thousands gather in the middle of the second wave of coronavirus. It has been reported that many of the devotees are in defiance of Covid rules like wearing masks and maintaining social distancing. 

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