CHENNAI: No god wants a fight among its devotees, and if they cannot worship peacefully, then the temple has to remain under lock and key, the Madras high court has said. The court made these observations last week while refusing to order unsealing of a temple in Kancheepuram district.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana was hearing a PIL filed by E Saman of Aalathur village in Tiruporur taluk over district officials’ decision to seal the temple after it threatened to become a flashpoint in the village.
“No god demands that people should fight over worshipping him. If people cannot peacefully worship, then the temple would have to be locked. The administrator took the right decision in locking the temple till better sense prevails,” the judges said
In his petition, Saman said the village had two Gangaiyamman temples one of which was built on a poromboke land (a piece of government land which is outside revenue records). A section of villagers who worshipped at the other Gangaiyamman temple lodged a complaint with authorities when another section was preparing for a kumbabhishekam in the temple on poromboke land. To diffuse the situation, officials first registered a criminal case and then held peace committee meetings. As there was no consensus, they sealed the temple on poromboke land.
Demanding reopening of the temple, several representations were sent to Kancheepuram district collector. Salman said the pleas did not evoke any response, and that villagers were unable to offer worship at the sealed temple. Later the PIL was filed. Dismissing it, the first bench said such petitions could not be treated as PILs.
TOI | Dec 2, 2014
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