The district administration has ordered for a Wakf Board inquiry into allegations that a masjid in Bantwal taluk was conducting a form of social boycott on a family after they had filed an RTI query regarding a Masjid-run school.
Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim, who received a complaint by M. Mohammad Kalladka, said, “The issues related to religious places are complicated, and we have asked the Wakf board to look into the allegations.”
According to Mr. Kalladka, a beedi businessman and a member of the Karnataka State Beary Sahitya Academy, his family have been discriminated against by the Muttalib Juma Masjid in Goodinabali (near Bantwal town) after he filed an RTI query about the functioning of the School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC) of the Hayatulah Islam Aided School.
His query on failure of the SDMC to hold meeting angered the masjid which brought it up at a meeting in January.
“They (Masjid Management) asked me why I had to file an RTI, and said the Masjid and the management had been insulted. They threatened to cut off contact with my family,” said Mr. Kalladka.
The acrimony soon turned into a form of social boycott when Mr. Kalladka’s luncheon was boycotted by the masjid mullahs. Denying the accusations, Mohammad G., President of the Masjid Board, said there was “no anger of any sort” against Mr. Kalladka.
