NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday orally termed the practice of excommunicating Parsi Zoroastrian women for entering interfaith marriages “discriminatory”.
Making the submissions, Senior Advocate Darius Khambata, on behalf of a Parsi Zoroastrian woman who married a Hindu man and faced exclusion from the Parsi community due to her interfaith marriage, argued that Zoroastrianism is a very forward-looking religion, and this practice is actually man-made, which is why it’s difficult to find any religious texts that support this claim.
“I am a devotee, I have not forsaken my religion, I am a believer. Just because I have married (I have faced exclusion), that (an interfaith marriage) is not a crime, “he said.
Hearing the submissions, Justice Nagarathna asked if marriage is the basis of discrimination only if it is a lady and Khambata replied in the affirmative. “This is a man-made imposition on an otherwise progressive and great religion,” Khambata said.
The court pointed out that such selective excommunication appears to have a discriminatory effect. “The right of conscience under Article is a right by birth and cannot be taken away by marriage in this case because the same principle is not applied to a man. The same should apply both ways. And that could lead to huge ramifications not only for Parsi Zoroastrians but across the board,” the court further observed.
Justice Nagarathna said that the children of a Parsi father have the benefit of the Zoroastrian religion. That means it is by birth. Same thing (should) apply to the wife also. It is a religion by birth, it cannot be taken away by marriage.
Khambata contended that the rights of a religious denomination under Article 26 are not wider than one’s freedom to practice their religion under Article 25 of the Constitution.