Darshan point must be equal for all: HC
Plea Claims Trichy Temple Lets VVIPs Get Closer To Deity
Saravanan.L1@timesgroup.com 29.03.2018
Madurai: The Madras high court’s Madurai bench on Wednesday said the darshan point in temples should be equal for all devotees and stressed that there should not be any disparity.
The court made the remarks after being told that devotees coming in queue to have free darshan at Trichy’s Samayapuram Mariamman temple are made to worship the deity from a distance, while VVIPs and those who pay money are allowed to get closer to the deity.
Trichy-based advocate Pon Murugesan filed a public interest litigation. When it came up for hearing before the division bench headed by chief justice Indira Banerjee, the petitioner’s counsel told the bench that the Hindu religious and charitable endowment (HR&CE) department is denying equal rights to devotees coming to the temple. It discriminates against devotees on the basis of economic conditions. This is against the Indian Constitution, the counsel said.
The temple authorities maintain three different queues for devotees to worship the main deity, Mariamman. They allow politically and economically influential people very close to the deity and also allow them to sit there for a longer time. Next to them is the paid darshan queue and those forming it are also allowed to worship the deity at close quarters for a limited time. But, it is not the case for devotees forming the free darshan queue. Besides, the temple staff also urge them to move faster.
The Supreme Court in a case involving Siva Thanu Chettiar held that the constitutional scheme of things does not permit any citizens to believe that economic affordability could be a tool to divide the citizenry for darshan in a public temple.
Some citizens are given the privilege of proximate or speedy darshan and others who can’t afford it have distant darshan on the basis of economic considerations, which is an affront to the equality before law as enshrined under the Constitution, the counsel said.
Seeking to permit all devotees in one queue to worship the deity, the petitioner sent a representation to HR&CE officials on March 19, but there was no action on it, the counsel said.
POLITICS OF WORSHIP: The temple authorities maintain three different queues for devotees to worship the main deity, Mariamman. They allow politically and economically influential people very close to the deity and also allow them to sit there for a longer time
Plea Claims Trichy Temple Lets VVIPs Get Closer To Deity
Saravanan.L1@timesgroup.com 29.03.2018
Madurai: The Madras high court’s Madurai bench on Wednesday said the darshan point in temples should be equal for all devotees and stressed that there should not be any disparity.
The court made the remarks after being told that devotees coming in queue to have free darshan at Trichy’s Samayapuram Mariamman temple are made to worship the deity from a distance, while VVIPs and those who pay money are allowed to get closer to the deity.
Trichy-based advocate Pon Murugesan filed a public interest litigation. When it came up for hearing before the division bench headed by chief justice Indira Banerjee, the petitioner’s counsel told the bench that the Hindu religious and charitable endowment (HR&CE) department is denying equal rights to devotees coming to the temple. It discriminates against devotees on the basis of economic conditions. This is against the Indian Constitution, the counsel said.
The temple authorities maintain three different queues for devotees to worship the main deity, Mariamman. They allow politically and economically influential people very close to the deity and also allow them to sit there for a longer time. Next to them is the paid darshan queue and those forming it are also allowed to worship the deity at close quarters for a limited time. But, it is not the case for devotees forming the free darshan queue. Besides, the temple staff also urge them to move faster.
The Supreme Court in a case involving Siva Thanu Chettiar held that the constitutional scheme of things does not permit any citizens to believe that economic affordability could be a tool to divide the citizenry for darshan in a public temple.
Some citizens are given the privilege of proximate or speedy darshan and others who can’t afford it have distant darshan on the basis of economic considerations, which is an affront to the equality before law as enshrined under the Constitution, the counsel said.
Seeking to permit all devotees in one queue to worship the deity, the petitioner sent a representation to HR&CE officials on March 19, but there was no action on it, the counsel said.
POLITICS OF WORSHIP: The temple authorities maintain three different queues for devotees to worship the main deity, Mariamman. They allow politically and economically influential people very close to the deity and also allow them to sit there for a longer time
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