Indore administration cancels nod for Christian prayer meet citing law and order situation

Indore: The Indore administration has cancelled the permission for a prayer meeting of the Christian community scheduled here on Wednesday, citing law and order situation, officials said on Tuesday.

Chennai-based Christian preacher Dr Paul Dhinakaran was slated to address about 8,000 persons as the keynote speaker at the meeting.

An assistant election officer of the Indore Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh, in an order issued on Sunday, cancelled the permission for the prayer meeting, for which nod was given on April 5.

The order stated that there is opposition to the meeting from Hindu outfits and other social organisations, who have filed a complaint in this connection with the poll officer.

After the complaint, the in-charge of theTukoganj police station here submitted a report on the law and order situation, based on which the permission given earlier was cancelled.

In the complaint by representatives of different Hindu organisations to the assistant election officer on April 5, it was alleged that the prayer meeting is being organised with an intention to mislead people of the Hindu community and encourage them for conversion.

"There is a strong possibility that the event might disturb peace," the complaint said, adding that its permission should be cancelled.

Suresh Carleton, chairman of the prayer meet's organising committee, rejected the allegations of the Hindu organisations.

"In our prayer meeting, only those 8,000 persons of the Christian community who live in Madhya Pradesh were invited. In the meeting, we were going to pray collectively for the happiness, peace and harmony of the country," he told PTI.

He said the prayer meeting was to be held under the banner of 'National Prayer and Ministry Alliance', an outfit led by Christian preacher Dr Paul Dhinakaran, who was going to participate in the programme as the keynote speaker.

Carleton had filed a petition in the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court challenging the administration's order to cancel the permission for the prayer meeting at the last moment.

After hearing both the sides, the bench of Justice Subodh Abhyankar rejected the petition on Monday.

"This court is of the considered opinion that it might be true that the intention of the petitioner to convene such meeting must be purely religious in nature, however, the concern raised by the respondents can also not be said to be unfounded, looking to the various objections they have received from other religious organisations," the bench said.

"In such circumstances, the possibility of apprehension raised by the respondents of disruption of the law and order situation can also not be said to be unsubstantiated," the order said.