Calcutta High Court declines interim resumption of prayers at mosque inside Kolkata airport

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday did not allow interim resumption of prayers at a mosque situated inside the NSCBI International Airport here, and fixed October 7 as the next date of hearing for the petition praying for it.

During the hearing, Justice Krishna Rao raised the daring act of Indian pilot Smit Machchhar of the Dubai-Tel Aviv flydubai flight, who fought off his co-pilot's alleged attempt to crash the aircraft.

Justice Rao adjourned the petition challenging stopping prayers at Bankra Mosque situated within the perimeter of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here until October 7.


Justice Rao did not grant a prayer by the petitioners' lawyer for an interim order allowing prayers to resume at the over a century-old mosque, which was stopped from July 11, till the matter is finally decided by the court.

Additional Solicitor General Dhiraj Trivedi stated before the court that there were no security threats at airports till April 1993, when a Srinagar-bound Indian Airlines plane from New Delhi was hijacked, claiming that the situation has changed drastically after that.

Opposing the prayer, Trivedi said that the matter concerns India's security.

Justice Krishna Rao said, "Now you cannot say only in India; it is now all over the world."

Pointing to Wednesday's incident of a pilot allegedly attempting to crash a commercial passenger aircraft in West Asia, Justice Rao said, "If that happens, I don't know where the security is."

Indian pilot Smit Machchhar of the flydubai flight fought off his co-pilot, who was suspected of trying to crash the Boeing 737-8 aircraft, and sustained serious injuries. Machchhar ensured that the lives of 174 people onboard the flydubai flight FZ1073 were safe.

The petitioners' counsel Kishore Dutta stated that the Bankra Mosque predates the airport, maintaining that while the aerodrome started functioning in 1924, the mosque is about 136 years old.

He stated that a village named Bankra was acquired for construction of the airport, but the mosque situated within was allowed to remain.

Dutta stated that from July 11, locals were stopped from accessing the mosque to offer prayers and perform other rituals.

Stating that access to the mosque was regulated, he said security personnel transported those offering prayers to and from the mosque by bus.

Maintaining that previously there was no security concern regarding the prayers at the mosque, Dutta prayed for an interim order allowing the regulated access to be continued till this court passes an order.

Representing the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Barrister S N Mookerjee stated that there have been several incidents of breach of security, with people going to the mosque found to be even in the apron area.

He stated that the mosque authorities were agreeable to shift the mosque elsewhere and there were no protests after the stopping of prayers at the mosque on July 11.