Based on Right-Wing Activist's Complaint, Collector Bans Namaz at 800-Year-Old Mosque

For as long as Aslam recalls, men from the Muslim community have been congregating inside the Jumma Masjid in Jalgaon’s Erandol Taluka five times a day to offer namaz. The 800-year-old structure is an important place of worship in northern Maharashtra and a property registered under the Waqf Board.

But it has suddenly become inaccessible to the community after the district collector passed an interim restraining order while hearing a complaint filed by a right-wing organisation. The collector issued an order under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, immediately banning prayers on the premises. In the order, the collector also directed police deployment in the area. The collector asked the tahsildar to take charge of the mosque, which he described as “disputed”.

While the collector’s interim restraining order and his power to pass it have been challenged before the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court, Aslam, a member of the Jumma Masjid Trust, fears that the unprecedented order marks the beginning of the communalisation of a centuries-old mosque in the state.

For as long as Aslam recalls, men from the Muslim community have been congregating inside the Jumma Masjid in Jalgaon’s Erandol Taluka five times a day to offer namaz. The 800-year-old structure is an important place of worship in northern Maharashtra and a property registered under the Waqf Board.

But it has suddenly become inaccessible to the community after the district collector passed an interim restraining order while hearing a complaint filed by a right-wing organisation. The collector issued an order under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, immediately banning prayers on the premises. In the order, the collector also directed police deployment in the area. The collector asked the tahsildar to take charge of the mosque, which he described as “disputed”.

While the collector’s interim restraining order and his power to pass it have been challenged before the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court, Aslam, a member of the Jumma Masjid Trust, fears that the unprecedented order marks the beginning of the communalisation of a centuries-old mosque in the state.

For as long as Aslam recalls, men from the Muslim community have been congregating inside the Jumma Masjid in Jalgaon’s Erandol Taluka five times a day to offer namaz. The 800-year-old structure is an important place of worship in northern Maharashtra and a property registered under the Waqf Board.

But it has suddenly become inaccessible to the community after the district collector passed an interim restraining order while hearing a complaint filed by a right-wing organisation. The collector issued an order under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, immediately banning prayers on the premises. In the order, the collector also directed police deployment in the area. The collector asked the tahsildar to take charge of the mosque, which he described as “disputed”.

While the collector’s interim restraining order and his power to pass it have been challenged before the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court, Aslam, a member of the Jumma Masjid Trust, fears that the unprecedented order marks the beginning of the communalisation of a centuries-old mosque in the state.