Friday prayers passed off peacefully in the city and its adjoining areas with a heavy posse police personnel maintaining a tight vigil. Apart from the city police, reserved police force were deployed in and around 76 designated places. District administration has also deployed 76 Duty Magistrates to keep tab on the situation.
According to an estimate around 2,000 personnel were been deployed to keep the situation under control. Also, additional 300 police personnel from the Madhuban training centre were requisitioned for the security purpose. Namaaz was offered at around 40 to 45 locations across Gurugram.
The sites where prayers were held included Marble Market in Sikanderpur, leisure Valley ground parking, parking in front of IFFCO Chowk and other designated spots in the city.
Security arrangements were made by the district administration after a group of men had disrupted Namaaz at a vacant plot in Sector 43 on April 20. Six people were arrested in connection with the incident and later released on bail.
On May 4, right wing activists barred Muslims from praying Namaaz in several open spaces in Gurugram. A police official said that additional deployment was made to prevent any misadventure and also ensure
peace during the prayers.
Meanwhile, members of the Muslim community said that owing to confusion resulting from the change in locations, around 35 to 40 percent worshippers missed the Namaaz on Friday.
"A confusion among the members of the community is still persisting as several worshipers don't know whether the next prayer will be held on the same spot or not," a member of the community said.
Moreover, the police officials said that no complaints were received in connection with any disruptions on Friday.
"Clear instructions were issued to the rank and file to maintain law and order. No one would be allowed to take the law into their hand. Adequate security arrangements were made to prevent any unwanted situations," Commissioner of Police Gurugram police, Sandeep Khirwar said.
"As Ramzan starts next week, we are trying to amicably resolve the issue. We are working on the issues raised by the different outfits," Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Gurugram, Vinay Pratap Singh said.
Right wing outfits in Gurugram had on Wednesday urged the district authorities to designate open spaces for Friday prayers away from temples.
On Thursday, a 15-member team comprising of five Muslims from the corporate sector, five 'imams' and five Muslim villagers was formed to visit all 76 sites in the city where 'namaaz' is offered in the open and try to bring down the number.
"We would like to thank administration and police officials for doing an outstanding job and maintain law and order in the entire city. Friday prayer was held without any disruptions. We hope that matter will be resolved by the next week," said, Aamir Hasan, Vice-Chairman (minority cell), and Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee.