Two residents of Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district have approached the Bombay high court seeking to re-open a PIL and also seeking clarification on disposing of the PIL after the state government and o
Two residents of Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district have approached the Bombay high court seeking to re-open a PIL and also seeking clarification on disposing of the PIL after the state government and other authorities had assured the court that ‘Maharashtra Hindu Places of Public Worship (Entry Authorization) Act’ would be implemented throughout the state.
Sanjay Kadam, a businessman and Dr Binduji Maharaj alias Bindu, a social worker have moved an intervention application through advocate Ganesh Sovani contending that ever since the said PIL was disposed of by the high court there has been chaos and confusion at places such as Trimbakeshwar, Shree Mahalaxmi Temple in Kolhapur, among others, because various women’s organisation leaders have tried to throng the temples for a darshan of the deities installed in these temples.
These women cite the Worship Act and claim the the court order has permitted women to have darshan from the sanctum sanctorum as well.
According to the petition, there cannot be any straight-jacket formula for regulating the devotees in the temple uniformly as everything depends upon the local custom, usage, tradition, among others.
The applicants feel that even if the “reasonable restrictions” of some nature continue to exist the same can’t be billed or labelled as “discriminatory” as the same has some reasoning or the other going by the ancient religious texts. It further states that no fault can be found if any particular temple trust follows the local conditions, usages, customs, traditions etc and “regulates the entries of the devotees entering into the temple and if the same is in the larger interest of the society as long as it is not discriminatory.”
The petitioners have prayed that the court should seek the views of the temple management trusts of all three important temples i.e. Trimbakeshwar Temple, Shree Mahalaxmi Temple, Kolhapur and Devedeshwar Devesthan Trust, Pune before having a fresh look at he order passed by the court on April 1. They have also requested the court to have an expert’s i.e. religious scholars’ opinion on this issue.
