VARANASI: Following a controversy over waqf board’s claim on the land of a mosque situated on the campus of Varanasi’s Uday Pratap College, the masjid is now under double lock.
Protesting students have put a lock at the mosque gates and handed over the keys to the college administration, even though the mosque management committee had already locked the gates earlier.
Principal D K Singh on Thursday said the keys to the second lock were with the security personnel of the college. “If the administration decides, the mosque will be opened. Our security staff has the keys, and the lock was put to prevent accusations of theft from the mosque premises,” Singh said.
The mosque became the centre of a row when a 2018 UP Sunni Waqf Board notice to the college, which said the mosque and its land were waqf property, started circulating on social media. More than 500 Muslims gathered on Nov 29 to offer Friday prayers, as against the usual scant footfall. On Dec 3, college students recited Hanuman Chalisa 50 metres away from the mosque, and said they would continue to do so if Muslims prayed at the mosque.
Amid protests, police halted prayers. The college had rejected the waqf board’s claim within days of getting the notice in 2018. The board, too, clarified that it had withdrawn its notice. However, since Dec 3, those who wished to offer namaz have been denied entry to the campus.
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