KANTARU RAJEEVARU Vs. INDIAN YOUNG LAWYERS ASSOCIATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Ordinarily, review petitions ought to proceed on the principle predicated in Order XLVII in Part IV of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013. However, along with review petitions several fresh writ petitions have been filed as a fall out of the judgment under review. All these petitions were heard together in the open Court.

(2.) The endeavour of the petitioners is to resuscitate the debate about ­ what is essentially religious, essential to religion and integral part of the religion. They would urge that 'Religion' is a means to express ones 'Faith'. In the Indian context, given the plurality of religions, languages, cultures and traditions, what is perceived as faith and essential practices of the religion for a particular deity by a section of the religious group, may not be so perceived (as an integral part of the religion) by another section of the same religious group for the same deity in a temple at another location. Both sections of the same religious group have a right to freely profess, practise and propagate their religious beliefs as being integral part of their religion by virtue of Article 25 of the Constitution of India. It matters not that they do not constitute a separate religious denomination. Further, as long as the practice (ostensibly restriction) associated with the religious belief is not opposed to public order, morality and health or the other provisions of Part III of the Constitution of India, the section of the religious group is free to profess, practise and propagate the same as being integral part of their religion. The individual right to worship in a temple cannot outweigh the rights of the section of the religious group to which one may belong, to manage its own affairs of religion. This is broadly what has been contended.

(3.) Concededly, the debate about the constitutional validity of practices entailing into restriction of entry of women generally in the place of worship is not limited to this case, but also arises in respect of entry of Muslim women in a Durgah/Mosque as also in relation to Parsi women married to a non-Parsi into the holy fire place of an Agyari. There is yet another seminal issue pending for consideration in this Court regarding the powers of the constitutional courts to tread on question as to whether a particular practice is essential to religion or is an integral of the religion, in respect of female genital mutilation in Dawoodi Bohra community.