New Delhi: The Chhattisgarh high court has said that there is not a need to obtain prior permission from authorities to organise religious prayer meetings at their homes if there is no violation of law, reported Indian Express.“The petitioners are registered owner of the land where they used to organise ‘prayer meeting’ of the followers of Christianity at their dwelling house … Further, there is no need to get prior permission from any authority for conducting prayer/prayer meetings, if the same is organised without violating any law … Consequently, the respondents/police authorities are directed not to interfere with the civil rights of the petitioners and also shall not harass them under the guise of enquiry or so,” said the court.While allowing the petitioners to hold prayer meetings on their residential premises, Justice Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi also directed the state government to not interfere with a person’s civil rightsThe petitioners in the case belong to Godhna village in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champa district and had alleged that the Nawagarh police along with the gram panchayat were interfering with their right to hold religious prayer meetings on Sundays and other occasions considered auspicious in Christianity. The petitioners had alleged that it was a violation of Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, reported Indian Express.The petition stated that the petitioners had been been organising prayer meetings for the believers of Christianity on the first floor of their house since 2016 and the Nawagarh police station SHO harassed them by serving notices on three occasions “to restrain them from organising prayer meetings”.While the counsel for the state sought more time to reply Justice Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi refused to grant the time and quashed the notices served by the police, saying that there was no law that restrains any person from organising a prayer meeting at their house, reported Indian Express.