A prayer room at Mumbai’s famous Inorbit Mall has allegedly been shut down and demolished. The controversy began after a video of two hijab-wearing teenage girls spread on social media, in which they were encouraging people to offer prayers on time by showcasing the room designated for mall visitors.
In the video, the two young women show that the room is well-furnished, featuring separate areas for men and women as well as ablution (wudu) facilities. However, as soon as the video surfaced, it faced fierce backlash from various Hindutva groups and individuals. They claimed it was an attempt to transform Mumbai into a “soft Islamic enclave” under the pretext of secularism.
On October 30, the Hindutva organization ‘Sakal Hindu Samaj’ shared the video on its social media platform X with a provocative caption, writing: “Is Mumbai walking on the path of Pakistan? This is a matter of deep concern for every Mumbaikar! A separate space for offering Namaz—virtually a mosque or a special room—has been created at Inorbit Mall in Malad. People of all religions and communities visit this mall. But the question is, can a Hindu worship in a mall located on this land of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj? The answer is—No!”
Describing the mall as a public space where people of all faiths gather, the extremist group staged protests there and demanded the demolition of the room. The following day, on October 31, the organization released another video highlighting the ‘before and after’ condition. The new video showed the prayer room with broken tiles and the structure completely razed.
According to a report by The Siasat Daily, the authenticity of the vandalism video could not be independently verified. Attempts to contact local police and mall management for comments yielded no response.
The presence of prayer rooms in shopping malls is not a new phenomenon in India. Many mall authorities provide such prayer facilities for the convenience of visitors without showing bias toward any specific religion.
