For Group Namaz At Home, Police Case Against 26 In UP Village
People offering namaz at a house in Moradabad's Dulhepur village last week.Lucknow: For a "mass gathering to offer namaz" at a house "without prior permission", a police case has been registered against 26 Muslims at Dulhepur village in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district.The village does not have a mosque, and some residents have objected to gatherings for namaz, even if inside homes. Police cited "objections from neighbours" and booked the namazis under Indian Penal Code's Section 505-2 — technically speaking, for mischievous statements in a gathering performing religious worship. "By reading the namaz in a gathering, these people are spreading hatred and enmity among people," says the FIR registered on a complaint by local resident Chandra Pal Singh on August 24. Sixteen of the people...