Kochi on August 26, : The Kerala High Court on Friday refused permission to build the mosque in the city that has numerous mosques, noting the fact that Kerala already has a significant amount of religious structures and their proportion to population size is extremely high.Justice P.V.Kunhikrishnan expressed the opinion that Kerala known as “God’s own country” is with a myriad of sacred sites.
“Because of the peculiar geographical situation of Kerala it is referred to as God’s own nation’.However, we are overloaded with religious sites and prayer rooms and aren’t in a position to permit any new places of worship or prayer halls unless in the most rare of extremely rare situations,” he said.
The court noted that even the mosques are important for the Muslim community but it is not necessary in accordance with the Holy Quran, that there be a mosque in every corner and crevice.
“The passages of the Holy Quran clearly highlight the importance of he mosque to the Muslim community.
But it isn’t mentioned in the preceding passages of the Holy Quran that a mosque is required in every corner.It isn’t stated in the “Hadis” or in the Holy Quran that mosque is to be built close to the home of all Muslim members of the community.
The distance isn’t the only factor however, getting to the mosque is essential,” it said.
The court also mentioned an analysis of religious structures, based upon the 2011 Census which it described as “alarming” because it stated it was “alarming” because Kerala is home to 10 times the amount of churches as villages, as well as 3.5 times that number of hospitals.
“Kerala is stuffed with temples and prayer rooms.If each devotee .Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Parsi, etc.begins to build religious sites and prayer rooms near their homes the state is likely to suffer serious consequences including community discord.In this instance the intelligence report as well as the police report state that if the transformation of the building that is commercial into a prayer hall for religious purposes is allowed, there is a the possibility of communal disharmony.This is a delicate issue,” it noted.
In the case at hand because there were 36 mosques in the area in the matter the court ruled there was no requirement of an additional mosque in the area since followers of Islam can visit other mosques in the vicinity, particularly due to the fact that the majority of people have access to some sort of automobile or public transport.
“It is accurate that Article 26(a) of the Constitution of India states that, subject to the morality, public order and health every religious organization or any part thereof will be able to create and operate institutions for charitable and religious reasons.
However, that doesn’t mean that they are able to construct worship spaces in every corner of the nation.Kerala is a tiny state” the statement said.
Justice Kunhikrishnan also referred to an iconic film song written by poet late Vayalar Ramavarma that speaks of the ways in which man created religions and religions, which created God and, in turn, created a world that was divided by humanity and.
The decision was made on a petition to convert a commercial structure to an Muslim location of worship in order to allow Muslims in the area to visit a mosque and pray.
The District Collector weighed in on the request but denied the request based on the reports of the police chief of the district who pointed out that there were 36 mosques within a 5 km of the commercial building of the petitioner.
This led the petitioner to seek the High Court.
The court reviewed “The Manual of guidelines to control and prevent community disturbances and to promote peace and harmony in the community published by the state through an official Government Order and concluded that even for the change of occupation, approval of the district authorities is required.
In the case at hand the court was unable to find any need to interfere with the decision of the state authorities and dismissed the case.
The committee was then asked for the following instructions to the police and state government officials and the police authorities.This includes, that the Kerala Chief Secretary and the chief of state police will issue the necessary orders/circulars, that direct all officers involved to ensure there isn’t any illegal operation of any religious establishments or prayer halls without permission from the authorities in charge according to the Manual of Guidelines.
If a particular religious site or prayer center is operating without permission, they must be required to close down the place immediately it was said.
In addition, the court stated that it must be stated that distance from the closest similar place of worship or prayer is one of the factors to consider when evaluating the applications for religious facilities and prayer halls.
The court also instructed the chief secretary to issue an additional circular/order that prohibits the changing of the classification of the building to be an altar or a church in any case, except in the most rare of rare cases and only after receiving a reports from the police and intelligence agencies, determining the actual facts of the particular location.
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