The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: A Delhi court on March 16, Saturday, called for a report on the incident last Friday in Delhi’s Inderlok area, where a policeman kicking Muslim persons who were seen offering namaz in a public space created an uproar. Bar and Bench reports that the concerned District Commissioner of Police (DCP) was asked to file a report regarding the recent incident.
The court in Tis Hazari has ordered that an action-taken report be submitted by May 1, the date when the matter is set to be heard next. Sub-inspector (SI) Manoj Tomar was seen kicking those offering prayers in Delhi’s Inderlok area near the Makki Jama Masjid. The viral video generated outrage and prompted a suspension on March 8.
In the video, SI Tomar can be “seen kicking and shoving people praying on the road, and even shouting and stepping on the prayer mats used by them.”
There was also parallel misinformation online, that a mob in the area had attacked the policeman. The police debunked the claim. Tomar now faces disciplinary action. “A departmental inquiry has been initiated against him,” NDTV reported citing police sources.
Journalist and Magsaysay award winner Ravish Kumar wrote in The Wire, that it was not about not causing traffic jams. “Can a blanket ban be imposed on all types of religious events on roads? That will more adversely affect hundreds of religious processions and events of Hindus which go on for several days. The desire to impose a ban is not the same as the demand for improved management of roads. But it only reflects the frustration towards a community and an insistence on spewing poison.”
He added, “The problem is not with namaz being offered on the road. How does it affect someone if a person offers namaz on a moving train? People have been doing so for ages and no one cared. But now a video is recorded which becomes the subject of debate on TV and the namazi is arrested. If someone offers it in the mall, a video is shot, hatred is spread over it and an uproar is created. Does offering namaz at a corner inside a mall or a coaching centre also lead to traffic jam? Recently, we saw passengers singing bhajans and raising slogans of Jai Shri Ram in planes carrying visitors to Ram temple. Was there uproar then? People have been doing bhajan-kirtan on trains for a long time. This has been a part of our train journeys. To ask for a ban on it sounds strange. Then people should not even play antakshari on the train.”