MADURAI: “If the people advocating dress code in Hindu temples do not follow the lifestyle of their grandfathers, they should not prescribe it to their grandsons,” observed the Madras High Court Bench at Madurai on Monday.
Hearing the writ appeal challenging the single judge order on the dress code in Hindu temples, the division bench comprising Justices V Ramasubramanian and K Ravichandra Babu that reserved orders said people not emulating their forefathers in dress code should not expect the younger generation to follow it, basing their arguments on dignity.
“The court cannot pass orders based on their wishes,” Justice Ramasubramanian said.
The original writ appeal was filed by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments challenging the Justice S Vaidyanathan’s order imposing dress code for devotees visiting temples.
Placing his arguments before the court on Monday, Muthu Kumar, one of the impleading petitioners supporting dress code said, it is not new and is followed in various temples across the world including Tirupati temple, Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Golden Temple and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Replying, the court said if the people going to temples focus on devotion, they would not have any issues with the dresses worn by others. It further said it would not be appropriate to implement dress code in temples and not public places, following which one of the impleading petitioners said a separate legislation to implement ‘proper’ dress code in all public places.