AFZAL ANSARI Vs. STATE OF U.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The matter was taken up by this Court on 05.05.2020 through Video Conferencing, in view of the outbreak of the pandemic- Covid-19. Mr. Syed Safdar Ali Kazmi and Mr. Fazal Hasnain, Advocates appeared before this Court in the present Civil Misc. Writ Petition (PIL) No. 570 of 2020 (Shri Afzal Ansari Vs. State of UP and two others) on behalf of the petitioners and Mr. Manish Goel Additional Advocate General for the State through Video Conferencing.

(2.) A letter dated 26.04.2020 was written by Mr. Afzal Ansari, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), Ghazipur with a prayer that fundamental right to religion of the people at Ghazipur may be protected and the State Administration may be directed to permit recite the Azan by only one person "Muezzin" from the respective mosques of the District Ghazipur, since it does not violate any of the directives issued for controlling the threat of the spread of the Covid-19, pandemic. Mr. Salman Khurshid, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court as well as Former Union Minister for Law & Justice, Govt. of India has by a letter dated 28.04.2020, approached this Court through Mr. Syed Mohd. Fazal, Advocate, seeking that Muslims at Farrukhabad and other districts such as Hathras and Ghazipur, in Uttar Pradesh, be permitted to recite Azan which, according to him, is an integral part of Islam and in no way undermines the society's collective response to the pandemic. A letter dated 25.04.2020 has also been written by Mr. S. Wasim A. Qadri, Senior Advocate seeking a similar relief with respect to District Ghazipur. Thereafter, Public Interest Litigation was filed in appropriate format on 30.04.2020 by Mr. Afzal Ansari. All the three matters including the letters were tagged together and were registered as Civil Misc. Writ Petition (PIL) No. 570 of 2020 (Shri Afzal Ansari Vs. State of UP and two others).

(3.) Counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the State in the aforementioned writ petition.