Disbelief in Deepak Vihar after coaching institute owner arrested for conducting community prayers

Days after 42-year-old Shaukat Ali was arrested for conducting religious prayers at his coaching institute Khoda Colony’s Deepak Vihar, residents are in a state of disbelief. 

Days after 42-year-old Shaukat Ali was arrested for conducting religious prayers at his coaching institute Khoda Colony’s Deepak Vihar, residents are in a state of disbelief. 

“People have been arrested for praying in open areas. Has holding religious prayers inside one’s private space also become a crime now?” asked a 46-year-old homemaker whose children used to study at the coaching institute. “We are unable to understand why the police picked him,” Wahid, a resident, said. 

Deepak Vihar, located near the Delhi-Noida border, is dotted with washed-out red-bricked houses, where people from several communities live together.

Sonu Kumar, 28, a car mechanic, said, “The area has a mixed population. Both Hindus and Muslims live here and pray at the temples and mosques in the area. So far, I haven’t felt any communal tension. Everyone minds their own business.” He moved here from Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun a few years ago. 

‘Hurt sentiments’

However, earlier this year, the police began receiving complaints from the Hindu residents about Mr. Shaukat conducting community prayers at his institute, which he had been running from his three-storey house for the past two years. 

“We asked Mr. Shaukat in January this year not to create communal tension in the area. A case was also registered against him, but he wasn’t arrested. However, his attitude did not change. He continued to hold community prayers,” said a senior police officer.