Vadodara: The principal district judge here wrote to the president of Baroda Bar Association (BBA) on Friday raising concerns after a video of Muslim lawyers offering prayers in the bar library went viral recently. The bar association had allowed some lawyers to offer prayers during the month of Ramzan.
In his letter, the Principal district judge J C Doshi has stated that the court is secular and no religious practices should be allowed there. “In a government building such religious activities cannot be performed. It is also necessary to maintain the decorum of the court building. Therefore permission for performing any religious activities should not be granted,” the letter stated.
The judge has also directed Nalin Patel, the president of BBA, to not permit any religious activities in future and also instruct all lawyers on behalf of BBA to not perform any religious activities in any room or area of the court complex.
“This is for the first time that our group of Muslim lawyers had sought permission to offer prayers during Ramazan since the nearest mosque is two kilometer away. Our concern was that a lawyer may fall ill if he travelled in such heat while fasting therefore we asked for permission. The issue is being raised for no reason,” said advocate Sajid Gajiawala.
Gajiawala added that the lawyers used to perform only one ‘namaaz’ in the afternoon in the bar room and within 10 minutes the room was vacated for others usage. When the courts used to function from the heritage Nyay Mandir and Laal Court buildings, Muslim lawyers did not have a problem since there were three mosques in the vicinity.
“We granted permission only on the basis of humanitarian grounds because we were worried about the health of the lawyers. But since the order has come from the highest authority, we will obey it,” said advocate Kedar Biniwale, secretary of BBA. He added, “There has been ritual of performing ‘Satyanarayan Katha’ during the month of Shravan. If somebody will seek permission for that, we will approach the district judge.”