3 min readRaipurApr 1, 2026 05:30 AM IST
The Chhattisgarh High Court has ruled that individuals do not require permission from authorities to organise religious prayer meetings at their homes if there is no violation of law.
The High Court directed the state government authorities not to interfere with a person’s civil rights while allowing the petitioners to hold prayer meetings on their residential premises.
The petitioners in the case are residents of Godhna village in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champa district. The petitioners had alleged that the Nawagarh police and their village’s gram panchayat were interfering with their right to hold religious prayer meetings on Sundays and other occasions considered auspicious in Christianity. They claimed that it was a violation of Article 19 of the Indian Constitution.
The petitioners, who are relatives, said they have been organising prayer meetings for the believers of Christianity on the first floor of their house since 2016. The petitioners alleged that the Nawagarh SHO harassed them by serving notices on three occasions “to restrain them from organising prayer meetings”.
The petition also stated that the gram panchayat also withdrew the ‘no objection certificate’ issued earlier to them for the prayer meetings.
Seeking more time to reply, the counsel for the state alleged there are criminal cases registered against the petitioners and they also remained in jail. He further said that the petitioners never sought any permission for organising the prayer meetings in their house, which is why notices were served by the police.
Refusing to grant any time to the state to respond and quashing the notices served by police, Justice Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi said there was no law that restrains any person from organising a prayer meeting at their house.
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“The petitioners are registered owner of the land where they used to organise ‘prayer meeting’ of the followers of Christianity at their dwelling house … Further, there is no need to get prior permission from any authority for conducting prayer/prayer meetings, if the same is organised without violating any law … Consequently, the respondents/police authorities are directed not to interfere with the civil rights of the petitioners and also shall not harass them under the guise of enquiry or so,” the court said.
