Mangalore, Oct 16: Nejar Gram Panchayat members had to face music from the members of Hindu outfits who were raged over the fact that Muslims offered morning prayers at a Masjid, on Bakrid.
The reason for the members of Hindu outfits to take exception to the prayer was that they had brought a stay order on the construction of the Masjid at Nejar, which is about 8 kms from Kallianpur in Udupi, following which the works were stopped.
However, the Muslim community offering prayer on Wednesday at the half done structure and the GP remaining silent over this irked the Hindu activists, who threatened to stage a stir by blocking Kemmannu main road if the prayers were continued in the afternoon and evening.
According to the reports, Hindu activists had brought a stay order from the court against the construction of the building for a Masjid, about eight years ago, citing that a Masjid was already functioning in the vicinity.
After eight years, first time the members of Muslim community had offered morning prayers in the 'Masjid'.
Irked by this, the activists took the gram panchayath officials to task and said that the prayer had taken place violating the Court order.
The pro-Hindu outfits argued that there was no need for another Masjid while one is already functioning at a distance of one km.
However, countering this argument, the Muslim community here said that the land belongs to them as they have purchased it and hence they have all the right to build the Masjid.
“There are no Hindu families here. The area is called Muslim layout. While the Muslim population has grown over the last eight years, there is a need for another Masjid,” say the Muslim community members.
The police gathered in large number to bring the situation under control.
Superintendent of Police of Udupi district M B Boralingaiah, Udupi DySP Prabhudeva Mane, Udupi Circle Inspector Maruthi Nayak and others were at the spot.
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