HC summons DM, SSP Bareilly on plea over offering prayers

The Allahabad High Court has directed the district magistrate and senior superintendent of police of Bareilly to appear before it on March 23 after a petitioner alleged denial of permission to perform namaz inside his house. The order was passed by a two-judge bench comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Siddhartha Nandan while hearing the plea by Tarik Khan of Bareilly. On February 12, the court had granted time to counsel for the State to respond to the plea and had issued notices to the DM and SSP of Bareilly. In the petition, it is alleged that authorities did not permit the offering of ‘namaz’ inside the house of Khan on January 16.

Earlier, in another case related to Maranatha Full Gospel Ministries, the court had observed that the petitioner has the right to conduct the prayer as per his convenience in his own private premises without any permission from the State Government. “However, if any occasion arises where it has to spill over the public road or public property, in such a situation, this court mandates that the petitioner shall at least intimate the police and take any requisite permission under the law, if so required,” the HC had said.