Hindu religious sites have been a victim of exploitation by political forces for a long time, from the invasive radical Islamists to current-day ‘secular’ governments. Various state governments have enacted legislation that gives them financial and administrative control over Hindu sacred places. Now, a retired Supreme Court Justice Indu Malhotra can be heard coming down heavily on the communist government for taking over the Hindu temples.
Indu Malhotra’s old video goes viral
Open your Twitter, and you will come across the tweets displaying the hatred against Hindus in India. But there are some occasions when you can also find others speaking in favour of Hindu beliefs and rights. An old video of retired Supreme Court Justice Indu Malhotra, these days, is doing the rounds on social media. She is heard thrashing the communist government left, right, and center. The video shows her emphasising, “Communists governments have taken over Hindu temples”.
While referring to the Padmanabha Swamy temple in Kerala, Indu says that “she, along with Justice U.U. Lalit, had halted such takeovers by the government, such as in Kerala, where the state government, take over temples “for revenue”, and specifically Hindu temples.”
Non-representative, un-diversified and exclusionary social composition of the SC and HC Judges is at the core of the fault-lines in the Indian Judiciary.
Deeply rotten, infested #CastiestCollegium
— @UrbanShrink 🌻 (@UrbanShrink) August 28, 2022
In the video, she makes it clear that she won’t allow it. Saying, “That’s what happens with these communist governments. They want to just take over because of the revenue. Their problem is the revenue. All over they have taken over, all over. Only Hindu temples. So, Justice Lalit and I said, ‘no, we will not allow it’.”
Indu Malhotra – The voice of reason
Indu Malhotra, has always been the voice of the reason. The first woman judge to be appointed to the position of SC judge directly from the bar, she was appointed as a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court in 2007 while she has been practicing law in the SC for 30 years. Do you recall the 2020 case, in which a bench of the Supreme Court upheld the rights of the erstwhile Travancore royal family to manage the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple? It was possible because of Justice Malhotra and Justice U.U. Lalit.
The royal family of Travancore had filed a plea challenging a 2011 Kerala high court judgment, which gave the maintenance rights of the temple to the Kerala government. Both the Justice Lalit and Malhotra observed, “the death of the last Maharaja of Travancore in no way could affect the shebaitship (management) of the temple held by the royal family.”
The lone dissent voice in the Sabarimala case
Indu Malhotra has never shied away from standing-up for cultural values and religious beliefs. During the verdict on entry of women in Sabarimala, while three judges (including the Chief Justice- Dipak Misra) gave nod to entry of women in the temple, the sole voice of dissent came from Justice Indu Malhotra who said, “Issues of deep religious sentiments should not be ordinarily be interfered by the Court.” She further added, “Notions of rationality cannot be brought into matters of religion.”
She observed, “What constitutes essential religious practice is for the religious community to decide, not for the court. India is a diverse country. Constitutional morality would allow all to practise their beliefs. The court should not interfere unless if there is any aggrieved person from that section or religion.”
Justice, Indu Malhotra courageously speaks her mind without mincing her words. She quoted, “Religious practices can’t solely be tested on the basis of the right to equality. It’s up to the worshipers, not the court to decide what’s religion’s essential practice.” Justice Indu Malhotra acts in her capacity as a judge in the matter and not, gender stereotype.
You see, the government has no business controlling Hindu temples, when it does not control the places of worship of other communities. Hindu temples have for long borne the brunt of various governments administrating them in a rather shameless manner, very often to extort their coffers in order to fund the state and its various schemes.
Indu Malhotra speaks with the courage and stands-up by her cultural beliefs. This is what makes her unique and bold. Women like Indu should be an example for the pseudo-feminists and liberal cabal, speaking against wrong doesn’t make anyone regressive.
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