The mosque on the Kolkata airport premises
Kolkata: The right to practise religion cannot be exercised in every nook and corner of public places, the state counsel told Calcutta High Court, opposing the Bakra Masjid committee’s prayer for an interim order to allow at least Friday prayers in the 136-year-old mosque located on Kolkata airport premises. The matter will again be heard on Oct 10 by a single bench of Justice Krishna Rao, who will decide whether an interim order allowing prayers at the mosque should be allowed till the petition challenging Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) decision to stop prayers there is heard. The AAI, represented by senior advocate S N Mookherjee, pleaded against the grant of any interim order, stating, “This is something which occurred on July 11 and they came to court on Aug 27… National security and aviation security is involved.
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The AAI, CISF and the state questioned the maintainability of the committee’s petition and repeatedly stressed the “national security” aspect of the discussion. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Dhiraj Kumar Trivedi, representing CISF, highlighted that to enter the mosque, the people have to go via the runway. A further threat to security, the ASG submitted, was the fact that it was the Maulvi who decided who would go for the prayer. This cannot be a point of certification. Maulvis will also be changing from time to time. How can he certify?” the ASG submitted. Additional advocate general (AAG) Bilwadal Bhattacharya submitted that the committee cannot take refuge in the Places of Worship Act. “It would be a defence available to them, if their argument was that a mosque is being converted to a gurdwara, church or temple. But here it is admittedly on acquired land,” he submitted. Download the TOI App.
“If tomorrow there are any lapses, we have no clue as to who will be entering the mosque.