Kolkata: Three days after devotees were barred without notice from entering the Gouripur Jame Masjid, locally known as the Bankra Mosque, at the airport, community elders said they will avoid confrontation and instead pursue legal recourse to restore access to the 136-year-old place of worship.The decision was taken after a late-night meeting on Sunday in the Bankra neighbourhood off Jessore Road, opposite Kolkata airport. Those present expressed frustration and a sense of betrayal over the sudden denial of entry, but resolved not to block roads, take out aggressive protests, or enter into any clash with the authorities.Community leaders said they would challenge the restriction legally, citing The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which bars the conversion of any place of worship and requires that its religious character be maintained as it existed on Aug 15, 1947.“There is no dispute that the mosque has stood on the grounds since 1890. There are land records — Cadastral Survey, Revisional Settlement and Land Reforms records — that acknowledge the presence of the mosque. These documents were shown to the North 24 Parganas DM and airport officials at a meeting held at the DM’s office on May 20, 2026. If access continues to be denied, we will move court to claim our right to worship there. Whatever the court decides will be accepted by us,” said Abul Kalam, a member of the Bankra community and a regular worshipper at the mosque.Siddiqullah Chowdhury, former minister and West Bengal Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind president, who is among the stakeholders of the mosque, also urged restraint. “We will appeal to the people of the state not to take to the streets. BJP workers want clashes to take place. We have no such quarrel with RSS or BJP,” he said.On Monday, a senior Kolkata airport official said no one would be allowed to enter the mosque until further orders. The official said devotees’ entry had initially been suspended to allow pathway repair work, but a security concern flagged by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security over access being permitted only on the basis of Aadhaar cards led to the decision to stop entry through the gate.According to the official, multiple meetings were held over the past few days, after which it was decided that gate 7 — through which devotees earlier entered after showing Aadhaar cards — would remain shut.When TOI visited the gate on Monday, cops were posted a few metres away and the iron door was shut from inside. A calling bell had been fitted outside, but no one responded. Earlier, a CISF personnel would open the gate five times a day after checking devotees’ Aadhaar cards.Kalam said the community had always cooperated with airport officials and had taken precautions due to the sensitivity of the location. “The mosque is a house of God where we pray in peace. There cannot be any violence associated with it. We have always cooperated with airport officials. Had it been a mazar or a dargah, we would have been able to relocate it. But when it is a mosque, we do not have the authority to approve relocation. We had asked the authorities to write to the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind or Darul Uloom Deoband to find a peaceful religious resolution to the deadlock,” he said.He added that the issue dated back to the relocation of the Bankra neighbourhood after the airport expanded in the late 1950s and early 1960s, while the community mosque remained where it stood.“We want the situation to be resolved through dialogue. From what we are hearing, access may be stopped on security grounds. We are equally aware of the sensitivity and do not allow even visiting relatives to go to the mosque. Despite our cooperation, if we are stopped from praying there, we will seek legal recourse,” Kalam said.
