KOCHI: Kerala High Court on Wednesday cautioned the state government that there may be persons to fish in muddy water when the Sabarimala temple will be opened for Mandalam-Makaravilakku festival.
The Devaswom Bench comprising Justice PR Ramachandra Menon and Justice N Anilkumar made the remarks when the petition filed by MS Anilkumar, Kakkanad challenging the requirement of obtaining police pass by devotees travelling in vehicles came up for hearing.
The petitioner submitted that for obtaining pass the travel operators has to give details of the devotees and this was creating chaos as well as bringing down the volume of business in the field of travel operators industry as a whole. Sabarimala season is a main financial source for the operators, but the unnecessary conditions imposed by the police will adversely affect their hopes. They also submitted that the right of the devotees to freely practice the religion is also taken away by issuing the circular asking them to report before the police.
The state government submitted that the circular was issued to ensure security at Sabarimala.
The court observed that there was an intelligence report stating that insurgents would intrude and create violence as part of a protest against women entry. Insisting pass for vehicles was only a reasonable restriction and this was to ensure security. The situation was vulnerable and there was a possibility for untoward incidents.
The Bench made it clear that a division bench headed by Chief Justice had already declined to entertain a similar plea. Hence they cannot take another view against the order of Chief Justice. The court posted the case on Thursday considering the repeated request of the petitioner.