NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the Madras High Court order prohibiting animal sacrifice, and limiting Muslim devotees rights to prayers at the dargah on the Thirupparankundram Hill in Madurai to Ramzan and Bakrid festival days.
“We do not propose to interfere with the impugned order (Madras High Court) without expressing any opinion with regard to the rights of the parties... Pending applications, if any, shall stand disposed of,” said a division bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and PB Varale, dismissing a petition challenging the order passed in October 2025.
Prashant Bhushan, advocate for petitioner M Imam Hussain who challenged the part of the ruling restricting Muslim prayers at the hilltop, argued that it violated the fundamental right to freedom of religion.
Bhushan said the high court’s finding that “Mohammedans could be permitted to offer their prayers in Nellithoppu area during Ramzan and Bakrid festival days alone… without disturbing the traditional footsteps which lead to Kasi Vishwanathar Temple” had crossed the “constitutional boundary”.
The petition also challenged the high court’s finding that the practice of offering namaz was only of a “recent origin”. It said the high court had merely endorsed a peace committee understanding with regard to performance of namaz at Nellithoppu during Ramzan and Bakrid.
Bhushan submitted that the HC had gone too far in confining prayers to only two occasions in the year.
‘No law & order problem arising out of prayers’
“Nellithoppu area belonged to the Muslim community and that there had never been any law and order problem arising out of prayers being offered there,” he argued, to which the bench said that there would not have been a peace committee meeting in the absence of such a problem.
Highlighting that there was no justification to deny Muslims the right to pray on land that belonged to them, Bhushan further claimed that it violated the fundamental right to freedom of religion. Such safeguards could always be enforced without cutting down the right itself.
However, the SC upheld the Madras High Court order and said the HC was indeed “very balanced” in its approach.
The Madras HC had permitted prayers and gatherings in the Nellithoppu area during Bakrid and Ramzan, subject to the condition that it did not affect the traditional footsteps belonging to the temple. It had, however, said that animal sacrifice, cooking, carrying and serving of non-vegetarian food cannot be permitted until a decision was made by the competent civil court.