CHENNAI: Saying that faith can neither be fenced by caste or creed nor divinity be confined by human prejudice, the Madras High Court on Friday ordered the authorities of the Kancheepuram district administration and the HR&CE to ensure the Muthukolakki Amman temple car is taken through the Dalit colony and the Dalits are permitted to enter the temple for worship.
Justice PB Balaji passed the orders on the writ petition filed by A Selvaraj, a Scheduled Caste man of Puthagaram village in Kancheepuram district and the impleading petition filed by S Anandan, district secretary of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF) seeking to permit the Dalits to enter the temple for worshipping and the car be taken through their streets.
Advocates S Kumaraswamy and R Thirumoorthy, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the ‘upper caste’ men have been preventing Dalits from worshipping in the temple which is under control of the HR&CE and stall the care from entering into their streets.
Senior counsel G Karthikeyan, representing three private respondents (‘upper caste’ men), told the court the route of the car procession cannot be altered as it has been in practice for several decades, and if done so, it may open a Pandora’s Box. However, Justice Balaji disapproved of these contentions saying that he saw no reason why the private respondents should be worried about future and non-existent claims as on date.
“Faith cannot be fenced by caste or creed and divinity cannot be confined by human prejudice. God does not reside in certain streets alone. No street is unworthy of the chariot or the god it carries. God never discriminates. So discrimination cannot be wrapped in the sanctity of tradition,” he remarked.
He said the private respondents cannot use settled custom, tradition and practice as shields to resist change which the society has witnessed.
Recording the submissions of the collector on the feasibility of taking the car through the Dalit colony, the judge ordered the temple car shall proceed on the lines of the proposed integrated route suggested by the collector during trial and main run.
He directed the authorities, including to “ensure that there is no form of discrimination practiced or permitted in allowing the people from worshipping the deity.”
The Constitution under Article 14 abolished untouchability. Such abolition was not just in physical form but in true letter and spirit. Therefore, none can dictate terms as to who is entitled to stand before the deity and worship and who cannot, the judge said.
