The protests against offering of namaz in the open, which started at Gurugram’s Sector 47 a few weeks ago, spread to Sector 12A on Friday with a group of locals staging a demonstration against offering of Jumma Namaz.

Led by advocate Kulbhushan Bhardwaj, the residents said the place where the namaz was being offered was not on the list of 30-odd designated places decided by the administration in 2018. They claimed that the vacant plot was a private property and the owner, staying outside Gurugram, was not aware of the use of his land for offering namaz. “Just as Hindus offer prayers in temples, Muslims too should offer Friday prayers in mosques and not in the open. Even the identity of these people offering namaz in not known and we fear that Rohingyas could infiltrate the area,” said Mr. Bhardwaj, spearheading the protests. He also alleged that the places designated by the administration were meant for offering namaz only once and not on regular basis.

Mr. Bhardwaj, along with others, later gave a formal complaint to the police in this connection.

Altaf Ahmad, representing the Muslim community in talks with the administration on offering of namaz in the open, said after weeks of disruption at Sector 47, a group of people led by Kulbhushan Bhardwaj disrupted Jumma Namaz at Sector 12A. He alleged that it was being done in a “planned and orchestrated manner” for the past several weeks. Similar disruptions were witnessed in March and April this year in few other localities of Gurugram, he said.