Kochi| The Kerala High Court on Friday refused to allow the construction of another mosque in an area of the state with multiple mosques. The court did not allow the construction of another mosque, observing that the state already has a large number of religious structures and the number of them is also very high in proportion to the population.
Justice PV Kunhikrishnan observed that Kerala, which is called ‘God’s own country, is full of religious places.
He said, “Kerala is known as ‘God’s Own Country’ due to its peculiar geographical location. But we are tired of religious places and prayer halls and we are not able to find any barring the rarest of rare cases. are also not in a position to allow new religious places and prayer halls.”
The court said that even though mosques are important for the Muslim community, it is not necessary that there should be a mosque in every nook and corner as per the Holy Quran.
“The verses of the Holy Quran clearly highlight the importance of the mosque for the Muslim community. But the above verses of the Holy Quran do not say that a mosque is necessary in every nook and corner.. ‘Hadith’ or the Holy Quran I do not say that the mosque should be located next to the house of every Muslim community member. Distance is not a criterion, but it is important to reach the mosque.”
The court also referred to a study on religious structures based on the 2011 Census, which it termed as ‘alarming’, as it stated that Kerala had 10 times the number of religious structures as villages and more than the number of hospitals. 3.5 times higher.
The court noted, “Kerala is tired of religious institutions and prayer halls.. If every devotee.. Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Parsis, etc. start building religious places and prayer halls near his residence, then The state will face dire consequences, including communal disharmony. In this case, the intelligence report and the police report state that there is a possibility of communal disharmony if the commercial building is allowed to be converted into a religious prayer hall. It’s a sensitive issue.”
In the instant case, since 36 mosques were present in the vicinity, the court observed that there was no need for another mosque in that vicinity, as the followers of Islam could visit other mosques nearby. The court observed this, especially considering the fact that the majority of the citizens have access to some kind of vehicle or public transport.
The court said, “It is true that Article 26(a) of the Constitution of India provides that every religious denomination or any section thereof shall, subject to public order, morality and health, establish institutions for religious and charitable purposes.” And will have the right to maintain. But that doesn’t mean they can build religious places in every nook and corner of the country. Kerala is a very small state.”
Justice Kunhikrishnan also referred to a film song by acclaimed poet, the late Vayalar Ramavarma, which describes how man created religions, religion created God and they together divided the world and humanity.
The decision has been given on a petition seeking to convert a commercial building into a Muslim prayer place to enable nearby Muslims to offer prayers at the mosque.
The request was considered and rejected by the District Collector based on the reports of the District Police Chief, who mentioned that there are around 36 mosques located within a radius of 5 kms from the existing commercial building of the petitioner.
Due to this, the petitioner approached the High Court.
The court perused the ‘Manual of Guidelines for Prevention and Control of Communal Unrest and Promotion of Communal Harmony’ issued by the State through a Government Order and observed that even for a change of occupancy, permission from the district authorities was required. Is.
In the present case, the court found no reason to interfere with the decision of the State authorities and dismissed the petition.
Thereafter, it asked the state government and police officers to issue necessary following directions.
It asked the State Government and police officers to issue the following directions, wherein the Chief Secretary of Kerala and the Chief of Police of the State shall issue necessary orders/circulars to all the concerned officers to see that any religious place or prayer hall Do not have any illegal operation.
Instructions were given that if any such religious place or prayer hall is running without necessary permission, then necessary steps should be taken to close it immediately.
Further, the court said that it should be clearly mentioned that the distance to the nearest similar religious place/prayer hall would be a criterion that should be considered while considering the application for religious places and prayer halls.
