The Uttar Pradesh police arrested the head of social-organisation Khudai Khidmatgar, Faizal Khan on Monday for offering Namaz at Nand Baba temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district on October 29.
He was arrested after an FIR was registered against him and three others (Chand Mohammad, Aalok Ratan and Nilesh Gupta), and was taken to Jamia Nagar Police station, reported The Quint. The FIR was lodged on November 1 with the Barsana police station.
The FIR accessed by the media read that the members of the organisation did not take any permission from those at the temple premises to offer their namaz.
‘Those who came with them took photos of them praying and posted it on social media, after which it became viral. This is also being shown in the news. Because of their acts, the sentiments of the Hindu community are hurt. We are apprehensive that they will incorrectly use the image of the temple. We also have our apprehensions regarding this organisation and if it is getting funding from foreign Muslim institutions and has relations with them. We want an investigation as we are worried that they did this to hurt the harmony in the area,’ the FIR further read.
Pawan Yadav, Member of the National Leadership Council and spokesperson of Khudai Khidmatgar refuted all the allegations. They said that the members were visiting all the temples in the areas as part of their Braj Yatra. Once the members reached the Nand Baba temple, they spoke to the priests and others, did darshan and were about to leave.
However, it was time for namaz. While the two of the four were about to leave, those from the temple stopped them and said that since the temple was a home of the Gods they could offer their prayers here. Therefore they came down three steps from the temple and offered their namaz there. Yadav says the matter has been completely twisted.
After the trip when Faisal returned to Delhi, he came to know about the complaint against him for offering prayers.
A priest at the temple, Kanha Goswami, filed the complaint against Khan, saying that he met Khan after he offered namaz. ‘When I reacted against his action, he also offered prayers before the Hindu gods and recited aloud many couplets from the Ramayana and other Hindu scriptures,’ Goswami told The Telegraph. ‘I didn’t like them making viral videos of the namaz. Had they also posted the videos of their prayers before the Hindu gods, I wouldn’t have registered a complaint.
The Police have arrested Khan on charges under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion), and 505 (public mischief).
Khudai Khidmatgar is an organization which was founded by Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, also known as Frontier Gandhi. In 2011, Faisal Khan restarted the organization to work on communal harmony and social work primarily.
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