Bombay High Court permits gurudwara to conduct "Prabhat Pheri" for Guru Nanak Jayanti

The Bombay High Court on Thursday permitted a gurudwara to carry out the four-hour religious Prabhat Pheri on the festival of Guru Nanak Jayanti which falls on November 19 this year. .The petitioner, Dhan Guru Nanak Darbar Dera Sant Baba Thahriya Singh Sahabji, a gurudwara, had approached the Court after the State government, the police authorities in Ulhasnagar and the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation had refused to permit any Prabhat Pheri. .The Court was informed that Prabhat Pheri runs for 13 days before Guru Nanak Jayanti and starts at about 4 am each day. However, the present application was to allow the same to be conducted on Friday, in light of the COVID-related restrictions. The gurduwara gave an undertaking to the Court that it will strictly abide by all the restrictions, including limiting the number of persons attending at any one time to the maximum permitted under government-issued regulations and notifications..The government pleader submitted that the petitioner had in 2018-19 allegedly violated sound-pollution norms. It was further stated that the petitioner had in the past invited celebrities and a disc-jockey (DJ). The Court found the oppositions to be surprising as the order refusing permission did not state these reasons. ."We are quite unable to see how one particular religious institution can be singled out for a refusal of permission on a particular day," the order passed by a Bench of Justices GS Patel and Madhav Jamdar said..The Court noted that the petitioner has been careful to advertise that those who are not fully vaccinated, and others who cannot attend, may participate in the event through YouTube and Facebook. The advertisement had made this abundantly clear, the Court noted, while allowing the petitioners to conduct the pheri..[Read Order]