‘Already exhausted with religious places’: Kerala HC denies permission for new masjid

News Network
August 26, 2022

kerrala.jpg

Kochi, Aug 26: The Kerala High Court on Friday denied permission to construct a mosque in a locality that has many mosques, observing that the state already has a large number of religious structures and their ratio to the population is very high.

Justice PV Kunhikrishnan opined that Kerala, that is termed as 'God's own country', is crammed full of religious places.

"Because of the peculiar geographical situation of Kerala, it is known as 'God's own country'. But we are exhausted with religious places and prayer halls and we are not in a position to allow any new religious places and prayer halls except in the rarest of rare cases," he said.

The court observed that even though mosques are important to the Muslim community, it is not necessary, as per the Holy Quran, that there be a mosque in every nook and cranny.

"The verses of the Holy Quran clearly highlight the importance of he mosque to the Muslim community. But it is not stated in the above verses of the Holy Quran that a mosque is necessary in every nook and corner.... It is not stated in the 'Hadis' or in the Holy Quran that mosque is to be situated adjacent to the house of every Muslim community member. Distance is not the criteria, but reaching the mosque is important," it said.

The court also referred to a study on religious structures, based on the 2011 Census, which it termed as "alarming" as it said that Kerala has 10 times the number of religious structures as villages and 3.5 times the number of hospitals.

"Kerala is exhausted with religious institutions and prayer halls... If every devotee ... Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Parsi, etc. starts to construct religious places and prayer halls near their residence, the state will face serious consequence including communal disharmony. In this case, the intelligence report and the police report says that if the present conversion of the commercial building to a religious prayer hall is allowed, there is chance for communal disharmony. It is a sensitive issue," it noted.

In the instant case, since 36 mosques were existing within the vicinity in question, the court held that there was no need of another mosque in that vicinity because the adherents of Islam can go to other nearby mosques, especially considering the fact that most citizens have access to some kind of vehicle or public transportation.

"It is true that Article 26(a) of the Constitution of India states that subject to the public order, morality and health, every religious denomination or any section thereof shall have the right to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes. That does not mean that they can construct religious places in every nook and corner of the country. Kerala is a very small state," it said.

Justice Kunhikrishnan also referred to a movie song by acclaimed poet, late Vayalar Ramavarma which speaks of how man created religions, religion created God, and together they divided the world and humanity.

The verdict was given on a petition seeking to change a commercial building to a Muslim place of worship so as to enable Muslims in the vicinity to access a mosque to offer prayers.

The District Collector considered the request and denied it, based on reports of the district police chief who noted that there are about 36 mosques situated within 5 kilometre radius from the existing commercial building of the petitioner.

This prompted the petitioner to approach the High Court.

The court went through the 'The Manual of guidelines to prevent and control communal disturbance and to promote communal harmony' issued by the state, via a Government Order, and found that even for a change of occupancy, the permission from district authorities is necessary.

In the present case, the court found no reason to interfere with the decision of the state authorities and dismissed the petition.

It then asked to issue the following directions to the state government and police authorities, including, that the Kerala Chief Secretary and the state police chief shall issue necessary orders/circulars directing all the officers concerned to see that there is no illegal functioning of any religious places and prayer halls without obtaining permission from the competent authorities as per the Manual of Guidelines.

If any such religious place or prayer hall is functioning without necessary permission, they should take necessary steps to close down the same forthwith, it said.

Besides, the court said that it should be clearly mentioned that the distance to the nearest similar religious place/prayer hall is one of the criteria while considering the application for religious places and prayer halls and also directed the Chief Secretary to issue a separate circular/order prohibiting change of category of a building to a religious place/prayer hall, except in the rarest of rare case, and that also only after getting report from the police and intelligence, ascertaining the ground realities of that particular place.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 21,2024

visa.jpg

Mangaluru: A man from Dakshina Kannada was duped of Rs 2.5 lakh after he was promised a Poland visa.

In a complaint, a resident of Belthangady, stated that the accused, Manoj, had promised a job for his son in Poland. 

Between May 22 of last year and March 19, he handed over Rs 2.2 lakh in various phases, citing different reasons.

However, since the accused failed to provide a visa or return the money, a case was registered at the Dharmasthala police station under IPC sections 417 and 420.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 14,2024

bengaluru.jpg

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says at least five people, including a staff member, were killed and 22 others wounded after Israeli forces targeted a food distribution centre in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini in a statement on Wednesday said that the strike hit one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centers in the eastern part of Rafah.

“Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centers in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine,” Lazzarini said.

“Every day, we share the coordinates of all our facilities across the Gaza Strip with parties to the conflict," he continued.

He said the attack was carried out even though "the Israeli Army received the coordinates including of this facility yesterday."

Lazzarini further urged the protection of the UN, its staff, and its premises and called for an independent investigation.

Israel acknowledged an airstrike on a food aid distribution center in southern Gaza, which it claimed targeted and killed a high-ranking member of Hamas. 

Meanwhile, the statement by the UNRWA head added that since October 7, at least 165 team members have been killed while in the line of duty and more than 400 people sheltering in UN buildings also lost their lives due to Israel's attacks.

More than 150 of the agency’s facilities, including schools and shelters, have been hit in the war, with some destroyed, and UNRWA staff have reportedly been mistreated and humiliated while in Israeli detention centers, according to the UNRWA.

Six aid seekers killed in Israeli attack

Separately, the health ministry in the Gaza Strip said six people were killed in the latest attack on Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City.

The Wafa news agency said some 83 people who were wounded in the attack have been transferred to the al-Shifa Medical Complex in the city.

Over the past weeks, Israeli forces have increased their offensives on the Kuwait Roundabout, an area where large groups gather to wait for aid deliveries.

Israeli forces killed 11 people waiting for food aid at the roundabout on Monday night.

The Israeli military has restricted the delivery of humanitarian supplies to northern Gaza for weeks, and thousands of children are going without sufficient food and medication.

The prevention of aid convoys comes as humanitarian officials have already issued a dire warning, stating that unless a ceasefire is implemented and aid is significantly increased, the toll of malnutrition and disease is expected to rise, leading to an alarming loss of lives.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 31,272 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 73,024 others.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 27,2024

hdkprajwal.jpg

Hassan: Former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda has announced that his son, former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will contest from state's Mandya parliamentary seat as NDA candidate.

Deve Gowda told reporters on Tuesday that the decision to field Kumaraswamy, who is also JD(S) state president, in Lok Sabha polls from the Mandya seat was taken amid mounting public demand. "People are demanding that Kumaraswamy should contest from Mandya. In the core committee meeting as well, all members suggested that he should contest from Mandya," Deve Gowda said.

The former Chief Minister's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy had lost to independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh from Mandya in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The JD(S) supremo further said that the name of senior leader Mallesh Babu has been finalised from the Kolar seat.

Deve Gowda's grandson and former Karnataka Minister H. D. Revanna's son sitting JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna will be contesting as the NDA candidate from the Hassan seat.

Earlier in the day, Kumaraswamy in a media briefing indicated that he would contest from Mandya amid mounting public pressure on him.

Congress has fielded Venkatarame Gowda popularly known as ‘Star Chandru’ from the Mandya seat dominated by Vokkaligas. Star Chandru is a close associate of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.