Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) on Wednesday asked a nine-judge bench of SC hearing the Sabarimala reference if despite the Constitution’s making every religious denomination subject to ‘public order, health and morality’ and nudity in public being an offence, can courts ban public appearance of naked sadhus of Jainism’s Digambar sect?This query from senior advocate A M Singhvi, on behalf of TDB, was in response to persistent questions from a nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant over why courts cannot test whether a custom or tenet is part of an essential religious practice to be immune from judicial scrutiny and whether judicial test should be confined to constitutional parameters of ‘public order, health and morality’ under Article 25. Singhvi said that even certain extreme examples do not come under the ambit of judicial scrutiny. “There is no doubt that nudity is abhorrent to normal canons of civilised behaviour in most societies. Yet, since Digambar Jain practices, including nude existence and nude movement in public, are undeniably accepted as a core part of a well-known religion, it would not be liable to be struck down under Article 25.” Solicitor general Tushar Mehta joined Singhvi and cited the example of ‘Naga Sadhus’, who go around naked. Nepal’s Supreme Court had last Sept dismissed a petition which had sought a ban on entry of Naga Sadhus at Pashupatinath temple during Mahashivaratri festival, claiming that their public nudity disturbed other devotees.
