The Allahabad High Court has said that it is the duty of the state to ensure that every religious community is able to hold prayers peacefully at a designated place of worship or on private property without any permission.
A bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Siddharth Nandan made the observations in an order on February 27 while rejecting the decision of the administration in Uttar Pradesh to restrict the number of persons offering namaz during the Islamic holy month of Ramzan at a mosque in Sambhal district, Live Law reported.
The bench said that the officials should either resign or seek a transfer if they are unable to enforce the rule of law.
A petition had been filed in the court by a person alleging that he was being prevented from conducting prayers during Ramzan at a plot where he claimed a mosque existed.
In its order on February 27, the bench noted that the petitioner had not submitted any photographs of a mosque or a place of worship within which prayers are supposed to be offered.
The court said that the state government had disputed the ownership of the plot during the proceedings. It added that the authorities had submitted that it had granted permission for only 20 persons to offer namaz at the premises on account of the “perceived law and order situation”.
However, the bench rejected the contention by the state government. “It is the duty of the state to ensure that the rule of law prevails under every circumstance,” the court said.
It added: “If the local authorities i.e. superintendent of police and collector feels that the law and order situation could arise because of which they want to limit the number of worshippers within the premises, they should either resign from their post or seek transfer outside Sambhal if they feel they are not competent enough to enforce the rule of law.”
It said that a previous order issued by the court had already “settled that it is only where prayers or religious functions have to be held on public land or spill over [to] the public property that the involvement of the state is essential and permission must be sought”.
The bench listed the matter for further hearing on Monday.
It directed the state government to respond to the petition. The petitioner was asked to bring on record photographs and revenue records showing where prayers are to be offered.
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