PRAYAGRAJ: Rejecting an Uttar Pradesh govt order restricting the number of people offering prayers at a mosque in Sambhal district due to law and order issues, the Allahabad high court has said the SP and collector should either resign or seek transfers if they feel they are not competent enough to enforce the rule of law. Hearing a petition filed by one Munazir Khan of Sambhal district, a division bench comprising Justices Atul Sreedharan and Siddharth Nandan observed in their order dated Feb 27: “It is the duty of the state to ensure that every community is able to offer worship peacefully in the designated place of worship, and if it is a private property, as has already been held by the court earlier, to perform worship without any permission from the state. This court has already settled that it is only where prayers or religious functions have to be held on public land or spill over onto public property that the involvement of the state is essential and permission must be sought.” According to the petitioner, the authorities had permitted only 20 persons to offer namaz at the premises even though a larger number of worshippers were expected to gather during Ramzan. According to the govt counsel, the order restricting the number of worshipers was passed on account of a perceived law and order situation. The court, however, rejected this justification. It emphasised that it is the duty of the state to ensure that the rule of law prevails in all circumstances, and that every community is able to practise its faith peacefully. HC directed the state govt counsel to seek instructions in the case and has scheduled the next hearing for March 16.
