PRAYAGRAJ, March 19 -- The Allahabad high court has reiterated that there can be no impediment or embargo with regard to holding prayers or religious functions within private premises, irrespective of the faith of the individual, citing its earlier ruling in the Maranatha Full Gospel Ministries case. The court made the observation while hearing a petition related to restrictions imposed on offering prayers at a site in Sambhal during Ramzan. A bench of justice Atul Sreedharan and justice Siddharth Nandan, after going through photographs of the structure, opined that the structure is not a mosque, as on date. However, it said that the place has been used for the purpose of offering Namaz earlier, and there should be no obstruction to the devotees for prayers to be offered at the same place. The petition was filed by Sambhal resident Munazir Khan, who alleged that the administration had allowed only 20 persons to offer prayers during the ongoing month of Ramzan on his premises, which he described as a mosque. According to the petitioner, a larger number of people typically gather to offer namaz during Ramzan. In its order dated March 16, the court also clarified that the elucidation of Article 25 of the Constitution should not be construed as granting any special status to adherents of the Islamic faith. "This Court has only laid down that article 25 gives every religion and faith in India an equal and immutable right to profess (declare his/her faith) practice (rituals, prayers, ceremonies and festivals) and propagate (to teach tenets and practices of a faith to others) equally across the board without any "ifs and buts", subject only to public order, morality and health, which also prohibits actions and speech having the propensity to vitiate public order by pitting one religious denomination against the other, which would take the proscribed act beyond the scope of the protection of article 25 and expose the person to the full rigours of the criminal law," the court added. Earlier on February 27, the high court had asked the Sambhal district magistrate and superintendent of police to resign or seek transfer if they were not competent to enforce the rule of law, after authorities cited "law and order" concerns to limit the number of worshippers. "The glory of this republic of 1.4 billion of the earth's humanity lies in her resilience and strength, arising from her historical, religious, cultural and linguistic diversity, like no other nation state on this planet with every major religion, culture and varied languages having co-existed for centuries in peace, harmony and mutual respect, formalised by article 25 of the Constitution of India after the same came into force", the bench remarked....