The Calcutta High Court on Thursday declined to grant interim relief to pilgrims who had approached the bench seeking permission to offer prayers at a mosque situated inside the operational premises of Kolkata Airport. Critical security concerns at the high-security aviation facility took center stage during the proceedings.

Presiding over the petition challenging the sudden suspension of religious prayers at the site, Justice Krishna Rao opted against passing any interim direction in favor of the devotees, scheduling the matter for its next comprehensive hearing on October 7.

Presenting their case before the bench, the petitioners explained that worshippers had regularly gathered for prayers at the mosque for several decades without disruption under an established, tightly regulated security protocol. Describing the earlier procedure, they submitted that personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) would rigorously screen each pilgrim before granting entry, arrange dedicated bus transport to ferry them straight to the mosque, and escort them back to the main road immediately after the conclusion of prayers.

Airport authorities strongly opposed the plea, drawing the court’s attention to the high-risk location of the structure. They highlighted that the mosque stands directly inside the airport’s operational zone and sits within close proximity to the active runway. The authorities cited past security breaches where unauthorized individuals had purportedly succeeded in entering or staying on the airport apron area, contending that permitting regular civilian movement into an active airside zone poses substantial, recurring security hazards.

Furthermore, airport officials informed the bench that the pilgrims were open to considering the relocation of the mosque to an alternative site outside the restricted boundary.

Senior Advocate Kishore Datta, representing the petitioners, submitted that if relocation was under consideration, it should have been carried out through a planned, gradual, and phased transition rather than bringing an abrupt halt to religious practices at a place where community members had offered prayers continuously for decades.

Representing the authorities, Additional Solicitor General Dhiraj Trivedi maintained that the global and domestic aviation security landscape has altered drastically over recent decades. He submitted that the operational threats directed against airports and critical public infrastructure have grown far more complex over time. In his submission, Trivedi traced the security evolution from the era prior to 1993 through to the 2025 Red Fort attack, emphasizing that modern airport safety protocols cannot be evaluated using legacy yardsticks from earlier decades.

Trivedi argued that these heightened safety concerns were especially pertinent within the Indian context. The court, however, observed that aviation vulnerabilities and security crises are not confined to India alone.

To underscore this reality, Justice Rao cited the widely reported mid-air crisis from the previous day involving a Flydubai passenger flight en route to Israel, which was forced to divert unexpectedly to Saudi Arabia following an alleged physical clash between cockpit crew members, where the co-pilot stood accused of assaulting the captain.

Responding to the broader scope of air safety threats, the court remarked: “No, not just in India; nowadays it is happening everywhere. See yesterday’s Flydubai incident. You cannot imagine.”

The disputed site, identified in reports as the Bakra Mosque, has stood at the core of the ongoing conflict ever since authorities stopped daily prayers over safety imperatives. Technical assessments and earlier reports confirm that the structure remains well within the airport's inner operational boundary, positioned roughly 165 metres away from the main runway.

With the High Court refusing any immediate interim relief, regular access for prayers remains barred for the time being. The legal contest between historic religious practice and modern airport security standards will resume before the Calcutta High Court when the matter is taken up on October 7.