NEW DELHI: A nine-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that “the most difficult task (for a court) is how to give a declaration that the belief of millions of people is wrong or erroneous”.
The observation was made during the hearing of review pleas against the 2018 Sabarimala judgment.
On the fourth consecutive day, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Travancore Devaswom Board, argued: “Religion is a set of beliefs and practices followed by a group/sect/denomination with a broadly similar identity.
Thereby, the court cannot sit in judgment of that belief. The Court cannot decide the validity of a religious practice in a PIL without hearing the believers. Religion is a faith of millions; a third party should not be allowed to find direct access to Article 32 to change it.”
Justice B V Nagarathna responded that the Court would decline to entertain a PIL questioning a religious practice if the aggrieved person is absent, dismissing it as filed by a third party or an interloper.
Singhvi reiterated that courts cannot decide the validity of religious practices in PILs without hearing believers, and said the Sabarimala issue cannot be resolved in abstract constitutional terms without appreciating the deity’s unique religious character.
“The facts surrounding the worship of Lord Ayyappa are integral to assessing the legality of the practice under Articles 14 and 15. The Sabarimala temple is distinct because it worships Lord Ayyappa in the specific form of a Naisthika Brahmachari, meaning an eternal celibate who has renounced the grihastha ashram,” he submitted.
He added that community practices must be judged by subjective belief, which courts are bound to accept. He also told the bench that the exclusion of women between the age of 10 and 50 has a direct nexus with the object, identity and manifestation of the deity.
The Court also orally observed that in the name of social welfare and reform, one cannot hollow out religion, noting that shared beliefs ultimately reflect a “relationship between man and God”.
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