Muslims in Noida banned from offering Friday prayers in park

Uttar Pradesh police placed the ban after receiving complaints

Muslims in Noida were banned from offering Friday prayers in a public park in sector-58 by the Uttar Pradesh police after receiving a complaint, India TV News reported.

The police order warns of strict action against employers and firms if their employees breached the order. The companies in the area had earlier petitioned the district magistrate to grant their employees permission to offer Friday prayers in the park but to no avail. The ban was issued after the police received complaints of employees offering prayers in the absence of permission by authorities.



The police said that all religious activity without prior approval came under the purview of the ban, and it did not target a particular religion.

Noida’s Sector-58 is an IT and services hub and the companies in the sector have sought to get clarity from Noida cops on the matter. In defence of the ban, the police remarked that it was only to preserve peace and accord, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

"We want to inform you that there is no permission from the administration to conduct any kind of religious activity including Namaz offered on Friday in the Authority Park in Sector-58. It has been often seen that the Muslim workers of your company assemble in the park to offer Namaz and I, the SHO, have told the group to not hold prayers in the park. Also, their plea to the city magistrate has not received any permission to do so.”, a notice issued by the police mentioned.



The police further added to the employers that it was expected of them to inform their Muslim employees to refrain from going to the park to offer their Friday prayers and that the companies would be held liable if their employees came to the park to offer prayers since it would be assumed that the company had failed to inform their employees of the directive.