Malik, CJ.

[1] Qazi Mohammad Siddiq has filed an application, Civil Misc. Writ No. 3 of 1953, against the State of uttar Pradesh and the District Magistrate of Lucknow, under Article 226 of the Constitution, that the applicant applied for the taking out of a religious procession, Madhe Saheba, and this was unjustly refused by the Magistrate on 26-11-1952.

The prayer in the application is that a writ of mandamus or prohibition or directions or such other writ, directions or orders, be issued, as it may be expedient, to the U. P. Government and the District Magistrate of Lucknow prohibiting them from interfering in taking out of the Madhe Saheba procession and holding public Madhe Saheba meetings by the applicant in the city of Lucknow and directing them to allow the applicant to take out such processions and to hold such meetings under such reasonable conditions as may be necessary in this connection, for which the applicant shall ever remain grateful.

[2] There are three other applications. Civil Misc. Appln. No. 12 of 1954 is by Syed Ahmad Ali that he made an application on 25-7-1953, for taking out a Madhe Saheba procession but it was refused. We may mention here that while the previous application by Qazi Mohammad Siddiq was by a Sunni Mohammedan this application is by a Shia Muslim. This application was dismissed by the District Magistrate on 24-8-1953, and the prayer in the application is that a writ of mandamus or prohibition or directions or such other writ, directions or orders, as it may be expedient, be issued to the U. P. Govt. and the District authorities prohibiting them from interfering in their taking out Madhe Saheba procession and. holding public meeting for the recitation of Madhe Saheba by the applicant and directing them to allow the applicant to take out such procession and hold such meetings under such reasonable condition as may be necessary in this connection.

[3] Civil Misc. Appln. No. 13 is by Syed Man-zoor Husain Nasir, another Shia Muslim. He also made an application on 25-7-1953, to take out what he calls a 'counter procession and hold a public meeting to recite the narrative therewith'. This application was dismissed on 25-8-1953.

[4] The fourth and the last application No. 11 of 1954 is by Husain Ameer who is also a Shia Muslim.

He claims that Shias have an absolute right to recite Tabarra in public places as enjoined by their religion and when Madhe Saheba is recited at public places they are specially duty bound to recite Tabarra. He made an application to the District Magistrate on 25-7-1953, that he wanted to take out a Tabarra procession and hold a public meeting to recite Tabarra therein and this too was refused by the District Magistrate on 24-8-1953, on the ground that there was an apprehension of a breach of peace.

The prayer in this application is more or less to the same effect as in the other applications that the U. P. Government and the District authorities should be prohibited from interfering in taking out Tabarra procession and holding public meeting for the recitation of Tabarra by the applicant and directing them to allow the applicant to take out such procession as may be necessary in this connection.

[5] It is not necessary for us to go into any detail as regards the dispute between Shias and Sunnis. We are really not concerned with the nature of the dispute or with the rights of the parties to take out processions in praise of their Caliphs. The. Shias consider that the first three Caliphs were not true to their prophet or to the true religious belief while -the Sunnis consider it otherwise.

It appears from the affidavit filed on behalf of the State in Civil Misc. Writ No. 3 of 1953 that upto 1905 the two Muslim sects, Shias and Sunnis, observed Moharram together. Since then disputes have arisen and there were two committees known as the Piggott Committee and the Allsop Committee which reported about the matter. In -- 'Manzur Hasan v. Muhammad Zaman', AIR 1925 PC 36 (A),