New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh police have registered a first information report against a district vice-president of the Samajwadi Party over the fact that he offered namaz on the road at a Circuit House in Moradabad. The FIR was registered under 285 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation) and 292 (punishment for public nuisance) of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita. It is unclear how the peaceful prayers obstructed public way or caused nuisance.Haji Mohammad Usman, the man seen in a video offering the prayers in front of a parked car, is the uncle of Bilari MLA Mohammad Faheem Irfan. Usman had been to the Circuit House to attend a meeting of the Leader of the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, Lal Bihari Yadav with Samajwadi Party leaders.The video shows no other human who could have been obstructed by the peaceful prayers. All cars in the frame appear to be parked.The FIR was filed on the basis of a complaint by one Anit Kumar who is the assistant engineer in charge of the provincial division of the public works department at Moradabad.“A video is being rapidly circulated on social media in which Shri Haji Mohammad Usman can be seen having parked his vehicle on the route used for entering and exiting the Circuit House and offering prayers behind the vehicle. As a result, an obstruction was caused to the movement of vehicles and people,” Kumar wrote in the Hindi complaint.A day ago, Dainik Bhaskar had reported that local Hindutva groups had been up in arms over the video showing Usman offering prayers. Rohan Saxena, state president of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal, appears to have questioned how the administration allowed the prayers to be offered at the government premises. It is not illegal to offer prayers in government premises, despite the Uttar Pradesh government having criminalised namaz on roads.The action against a Muslim politician is in contrast to the impunity enjoyed by those who partook in the Kanwar Yatra, who blocked roads, vandalised vehicles and establishments and displayed vulgar gestures as seen in several circulated videos.