HC Issues Contempt Notice to Bareilly DM, SSP Over 'Flouting' Court Order That Allowed Namaz Inside Private House
New Delhi: Observing that authorities seem to have ‘flouted’ its previous order, the Allahabad high court last week issued a contempt notice to Bareilly district magistrate Avinash Singh and senior superintendent of Police Anurag Arya for allegedly restraining certain individuals from offering Namaz inside a private house, reported LiveLaw.
A bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Siddharth Nandan issued the contempt notice while hearing a petition by Tarik Khan who was among the individuals who were restrained from offering Namaz.
Earlier, while hearing two similar petitions moved by Maranatha Full Gospel Ministries and Emmanuel Grace Charitable Trust, the Allahabad high court had ruled on January 27 there is no need to take permission for holding a religious prayer meeting in a private property in Uttar Pradesh.
The petitioner in the present case was detained on January 16 along with others for allegedly offering Namaz in an empty home owned by one Reshma Khan "without permission".
Later, after the January 27 court order, he had submitted a representation before the district magistrate and senior superintendent on January 28 (personally) and February 2 (by registered post), requesting permission to offer prayers in the same private premises during the upcoming month of Ramzan, reported LiveLaw.
The petitioner’s counsel told the high court that despite the court's clear ruling, the officials kept these representations pending, following which the contempt notice was issued.
In its January 27 ruling, the court had said that no permission was required under the law to pursue an act which is part of the fundamental right under Article 25 of the Constitution of India. It had clarified that the same is subject to the fact that religious prayer meeting is carried out only within the private premises of the property.
Note: An earlier version of this report had the name of a transferred officer in place of the current District Magistrate. This error has been corrected after it was pointed out by the Azamgarh DM's office.
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