The Kerala High Court has held that a mosque is a place of worship and every Muslim has the right to offer prayer in the mosque and bury their dead bodies in a graveyard on the premise of a mosque and it cannot be obstructed merely because they belong to a different sect.
The court made the observation while dismissing a petition filed by Elappully Eranchery Jamaath Palli, Vengodi, Palakkad seeking to review the order of the Ernakulam Wakf Tribunal, declaring that members of Kerala Naduvathul Mujahideen also had the right to prayers in the mosque and to bury the bodies of their family members.
The court observed that the office-bearers of the mosque had no right to obstruct a member of the Jamaath or any other Muslim from offering prayers. The burying of dead bodies was also a civil right. The graveyard situated on the property of the mosque was a public graveyard. Every Muslim is entitled to get a decent burial according to civil rights and the graveyard under the petitioners was a public graveyard, and any Muslim or any member of the mosque has a right to bury the dead. The petitioners cannot obstruct others from offering prayers in the mosque and burying dead bodies of their relatives on grounds that they had been ex-communicated from the Jamaath since they followed the Kerala Naduvathul Mujahideen Sect.
According to the petitioner, as they had changed to Kerala Naduvathul Mujahideen and attempted to transfer the members of the Jamaath to their organisation, they were not entitled to offer prayers and bury their dead bodies. The petitioners said that they have got ample institutions and khabarstan to accommodate their believers and bury their bodies.
