Namaz on road: Aligarh administration ban 'violated'

AGRA: A day after the Aligarh administration imposed a ban on carrying out any religious activities on roads, a large number of Muslims offered their Friday namaz outside a mosque, Bu Ali Shah, under the Kotwali police jurisdiction.
District magistrate CB Singh said the matter is being looked into and a notice will be issued if the ban has been violated in any form.
Reacting to the ban, AMU professor in theology department, Mufti Zahid said that Muslims offer namaz on roads when there is less space inside the mosque.
"While no new mosque has been built, our population has increased. We need only five to 10 minutes and this is essential for our community," he said, adding that some organisations are deliberately raising this issue to create a rift. Zahid further said that Hindu groups can also do the same if temples are overcrowded. They usually do it when religious activities like bhandara or jagrans are organised by them, he added.
However, president of Bharatiya Samaj Sevak Sangathan, Chaudhary Ifrahim Hussain, said that law should be equal for all. "It should be followed strictly by all religions and the practice of offering namaz and Aarti on roads should be discouraged," he added.
Meanwhile, state general secretary of Hindu Jagran Manch, Surendra Singh Bhagor, has challenged the DM's ban order and said that no one can stop them from reciting Hanuman Chalisa on the road. "We will see who stops us and if the DM tries, we will even make him recite the holy verses," said Bhagor.