Madras High Court: No Religion preaches Narrow Mindedness

Snehal Upadhyay

Published on: August 09, 2021, at 15:28 IST

The Madras High Court was dealing with a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) petition filed by a lawyer S. Sridharan seeking to restrain Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K, Stalin, from presiding over the advisory panel of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department.

The Lawyer contended that unless the Chief Minister takes a pledge before a Hindu God that he would profess the Hindu religion only then he should be permitted to preside over the advisory panel.

The Court criticized the Lawyer for filing such PIL and quashed the plea.

The Court observed that “No religion preaches narrow mindedness or hurting others.”

Adding to this the Court also said that such a petition cannot be condoned.

The division Bench comprising of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu showed their anger by debarring the petitioner litigant from filing PILs for five years.

The petitioner had contended that the prerequisite in the HR&CE department states that the officials and employees must take an oath for professing the Hindu religion before a Hindu God.

The Bench stated that India is a secular country where the constitution permits taking an oath in the name of God or the constitution.

It is an utterly mischievous petition, extremely in bad taste. A prejudice is involved in the prayer,” the Court observed.

Also Read: What is Freedom of Religion?

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