New Delhi: In a significant ruling, Delhi High Court observed that there can’t be a cap on number of devotees allowed to enter the Nizamuddin Markaz when other religious places don’t have such a restriction, and allowed the mosque to open for prayers during the Ramzan month in accordance with Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) guidelines.
The Centre and Delhi Police had wanted only 20 people to be allowed to enter the premises at a time from a police-verified specified list, The Indian Express reported.
“It is an open place. They don’t have to have a fixed (number of) devotees when no other religious place has,” said Justice Mukta Gupta.
“A 200-people list is not acceptable; that cannot be,” the court observed.
However, a list of persons managing the mosque can be provided to the local SHO, the court added.
There will be an inspection of the mosque, in the presence of local SHO, to measure the area and determine number of people who can offer namaz in accordance with social distancing norms.
The court asked authorities to file a status report and listed the case for hearing on Tuesday.
Advocate Rajat Nair, representing the Centre, earlier told the court that a list of 200 people can be submitted to the police but only 20 people may enter the mosque at a single time to comply with social distancing norms. Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, representing the Delhi Waqf Board, told the court that they will follow all the protocol but it would be practically difficult to compile such a list.
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