The proposed campaign against the late night grand gala marriages in Hyderabad seems to be heading for an anti-climax with the State Government and the city police washing their hands of.
Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali has dismissed the idea of the Telangana State Waqf Board’s advisory to the Qazis not to perform any nikah ceremony after 9 pm saying that the Government does not have any power to do so.
At the same time the city police commissioner V Srinivasa Rao has also clarified that the police cannot stop any marriage process until it poses a threat to the law and order.
Mahmood Ali told the media that the Government was not in a position to impose a deadline on qazis performing nikah. “It would be better if the wedding functions end early as eating late causes health problems. But the Government can not force anything on the people”.
In a press note he said that in the absence of any guidelines from the Government police can not enforce any such ban. “The duty of the police was to maintain law and order and it can not interfere with private function like wedding”.
Their reaction came in the context of the meeting chaired by the Waqf Bord chairman Mohammed Saleem earlier this week which decided to launch a campaign from February 1 to ensure that wedding functions end by midnight and to ensure that the Qazis should not perform any Nikah ceremony after 9 pm.
The meeting, which was attended by Qazis, Police officials including the police commissioner and representatives of several Muslim organisations had decided to create social awareness against the pompous marriages which continue till the wee hour. The meeting had also proposed confining the wedding dinners to only a single dish.
The police commissioner had assured the cooperation from the police in ensuring that the wedding functions end by the midnight.
However in his press note, Srinivas Rao said that there was no legal justification for imposing any restrictions on the marriage processions of any particular community. “The police have the power to take action only when such programs create noise pollution or the participants carry weapons”, he said.
A section of Qazis has also come out against the proposed curbs arguing that due to the evening traffic rush, normally the bridegroom does not reach the function hall on time and Qazis have to perform more than one marriage on a day during the marriage season.
Apparently the meeting was convened by the Waqf Board chairman without informing the Government or the office of the Chief Minister and the deputy Chief Minister was also not present at the meeting.