NEW DELHI: Even as the National Commission for Minorities did not comment on the issue, the Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) termed the Noida Police’s order to some companies on namaz as “condemnable”.
“If somebody violates law, that person is responsible for his/her action. The person’s employer/company is not responsible for the employee’s actions. I think the Noida police have gone too far. The UP police, under the current dispensation, think it can do anything which is wrong, illegal and unconstitutional. This police notice is not tenable under law and these companies can move court against the notice that has been issued. They can’t threaten the employers,” DMC chairperson Zafarul Islam Khan said.
He added that though the issue was beyond the DMC’s jurisdiction, he would still take up the matter with the Uttar Pradesh police chief and the UP Home Minister. “This issue is beyond our jurisdiction but if it was within our jurisdiction, we would have issued notice to the Noida police at once. This order is condemnable,” he said.
On the Noida police’s concerns that communal harmony could be disturbed by namaz, Khan said, “I don’t think namaz disrupts harmony in any area. But if the local people are objecting, the people should not offer namaz there. But, it is the duty of the police and the administration to designate a place in some other area for this purpose,” he said.
“They (the administration) should designate a park or some other vacant plot to offer namaz because in new residential areas, there are no mosques. Land prices are so high that the Muslims cannot afford to buy a place for Namaz. This is beyond the means of the poor community,” he asserted.