4 Tourists Arrested For Offering Namaz At Mosque In Taj Mahal Premises: Here's What Happened

A tour of the Taj Mahal left a bitter aftertaste for four tourists. The tourists were arrested on Thursday for offering 'namaz' at the mosque on the Taj Mahal premises, the police said.

The four men were spotted offering namaz at the Shahi mosque around 5 pm on Wednesday.

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According to Agra Superintendent of Police (SP) Vikas Kumar, three accused hailed from Hyderabad, while the other was from Azamgarh. They have all been booked under section 153 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Uttar Pradesh | Four people were arrested for offering namaz at the mosque in Taj Mahal premises. Three of them are from Hyderabad and one is from Azamgarh. They have been booked under section 153 of IPC. They have been presented in the court: Vikas Kumar, SP City Agra pic.twitter.com/WTU30EjzcY

¡ª ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) May 26, 2022

The plea was filed by Rajneesh Singh, a BJP youth media in charge, before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, which sought directions to the Archaeological Survey of India to probe the 22 closed doors in the Taj Mahal to ascertain the presence of the idols of Hindu deities.

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"Namaz has been offered at the mosque of the Taj Mahal regularly. But some days ago, the ASI cited a Supreme Court order barring the offering of the namaz on the mosque premises except on Friday," said Ibrahim Zaidi, the head of the Intezamia Committee at Taj Mahal.

Zaidi said the committee has asked the ASI to put the prohibition in writing with proof and display a board announcing the ban on the tourists.

Vinod Dixit, a tourist guide from Lucknow, who was with the tourists, added that they didn't know about any such rule, nor was anything mentioned on a notice board.

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Dixit was quoted as saying, "They had no idea that they could not offer namaz. They did it by mistake. There was no notice board saying that it is prohibited. "

According to a PTI report said they were accosted by officials from the ASI and CISF and handed over to the local police.

Agencies

According to a Supreme Court order, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) said that offering the namaz inside the premises of the UNESCO-protected world heritage site is prohibited on all days except Friday.

The superintending archaeologist of the ASI, Agra Circle, Raj Kumar Patel, said even on Fridays, only residents of the Tajganj locality¡ªwhere the mausoleum is located¡ªare allowed to pray between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., according to a Supreme Court order.

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Earlier in the month, the Taj Mahal made headlines after the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court rejected a plea seeking to open 22 closed rooms in the Taj Mahal to ascertain the presence of the idols of Hindu deities.

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