Delhi Minorities Commission writes to Baijal, Kejriwal on azaan issue

The Delhi Minorities Commission said it has received reports that policemen had told mosques in some areas to stop azaan during the lockdown and urged LG Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to not ban the call for prayer.

In a letter to the LG and the CM, the commission's chairman Zafarul Islam Khan said the reports have come from areas like Dwarka and South districts and urged them to not ban azaan. He said mosques across Delhi are "meticulously" following the coronavirus-related restrictions and no congregational prayers of more than four persons are being held in any mosque.

"The issue of azaan from mosques is very pressing due to the beginning of the month of Ramzan (beginning Saturday)when Muslims fast and break their fast on hearing the azaan at sunset," he said.

Khan said in a statement that in some cases policemen have even removed the loudspeakers from mosques.

The Commission has issued a notice to the deputy commissioners of police of Dwarka and South districts to provide it a copy of any such circular and if it does not exist, allow azaan in mosque in their areas.

Delhi police, meanwhile, said azan is allowed in accordance with the National Green Tribunal guidelines but urged people to follow lockdown norms during Ramzan. The police's appeal comes after a video surfaced on social media showing two policemen purportedly telling people that azan was not allowed during lockdown as per the LG's order.

In another letter jointly written by Khan and the commission member Kartar Singh Kochhar, they raised the "plight" of inmates of quarantine centres for coronavirus suspects in Delhi.

They alleged that two inmates have died "due to the callous and uncooperative nature of officers and doctors manning and supervising these camps and erratic supply of food at these facilities."

Some Tablighi Jamaat members and other Covid-19 suspects are kept at quarantine centres in Sultanpuri, Narela and Dwarka camps. The Tablighi Jamaat members include Indians from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, UP, Rajasthan and other states. There are also foreign nationals from Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Kyrgystan at the camps, they said.

"They have completed 25 days in quarantine, much past the required 14 days. Their vast majority has tested negative, but some of those who tested positive are also kept in the same facilities. Out of 21 positive cases of Jamaat people at Sultanpuri camp, only around 4-5 were reportedly taken to hospitals."

"Medical facilities and medicines are not provided even though some of the inmates are diabetic and heart patients. Two diabetic patients have already died in the quarantine camp at Sultanpuri. Mohamed Mustafa (60) died on April 22 while Haji Rizwan, died about ten days earlier. Both diabetic, belonged to Tamil Nadu," they claimed in the letter.

The Commission demanded that the timing of food supply for inmates holding fast during Ramzan must be changed. It also requested the LG and the CM to order an inquiry into the deaths of the two inmates.