‘From synagogues to temples’: Allahabad High Court upholds right across faiths to congregate, pray on private premises

‘Right to congregate for worship’

• The elucidation of Article 25 of the Indian Constitution by this court, is not to be construed as giving any special status to the adherents of the Islamic faith in India.
• This court has only laid down that Article 25 gives every religion and faith in India an equal and immutable right to profess (declare his/her faith) practice (rituals, prayers, ceremonies and festivals) and propagate (to teach tenets and practices of a faith to others) equally across the board without any “ifs and buts”, subject only to public order, morality and health.
• It also prohibits actions and speech having the propensity to vitiate public order by pitting one religious denomination against the other, which would take the proscribed act beyond the scope of the protection of Article 25 and expose the person to the full rigours of the criminal law.

Prayer congregation: A facet of Abrahamic faiths

• Jews congregate in synagogues for Shabbath on Friday, and Saturday is a faith-ordained day of rest and spiritual reflection.
• Christians congregate in churches for Sunday mass and Muslims congregate in mosques for the Friday afternoon prayer.
• Eastern faiths like Hinduism and Buddhism, by contrast, don’t have fixed days for community congregations for worship in temples and the community congregates for celebration (which includes worship) of festivals.
• Article 25 protects the right to congregate for worship to every religious denomination in this country but the same does not protect such acts and utterances which are devoid of the primary purpose of the congregation, which is prayer.
• By no stretch of imagination does Article 25 accord protection to incitement of one faith by the other in the garb of prayer and that must be borne in mind by the adherents of all faiths/religions.
• Article 25 is religion and faith neutral, and the freedom of conscience that it protects, enables equally an atheist to profess, practice and propagate that there is no God, on the anvil of logic, reason and science.
• The glory of this republic of 1.4 billion of the earth’s humanity lies in her resilience and strength, arising from her historical, religious, cultural and linguistic diversity, like no other nation state on this planet with every major religion, culture and varied languages having co-existed for centuries in peace, harmony and mutual respect, formalised by Article 25 of the Constitution of India after the same came into force.

What was the case?

• The petitioner alleged that he was prevented from conducting prayers during Ramzan at the place where, according to the counsel for the petitioner, a mosque exists.
• The state disputed the ownership of the same. However, it said that permission was granted only to the extent of 20 worshipers, who may offer namaz.
• The counsel for the state told the court that such an order restricting the number of worshipers was passed on account of perceived law and order situation.
• The court had, earlier, rejected this contention of the state, observing that it was the duty of the state to ensure that the rule of law prevails under every circumstance.
• The court had added that the superintendent of police and collector should resign or seek transfer if they felt that a law and order situation could arise because of which they wanted to limit the number of worshipers within the premises.
• After going through the supplementary affidavit, which contained the photographs of the premises, where the prayers are to be conducted, the court noted that the structure was not a mosque.
• The court disposed of the plea, directing the state to be fully cognisant of the order passed by it in Maranatha Full Gospel Ministries v. State of UP, where it had held that no prior permission from the state authorities is required to conduct religious prayer meetings within one’s own private premises.