‘Govt, courts have equal power to end blind beliefs’

The Supreme Court’s judgement allowing women entry into the Sabarimala temple should not be viewed as interference with the affairs of temples, former judge of Karnataka High Court Justice H N Nagamohan Das has said.

The move is an attempt to end to blind beliefs violating human dignity and contradicting fundamental rights, he stressed.

He was delivering a talk on ‘Achievements of the Republic of India and the Challenges Ahead’ on Wednesday, as a part of the Constitution Week organised by the Faculty of Arts at the L F Rasquinha Hall in St Aloysius College.

Equal power

Justice Das, responding to a query on the matter, asserted that the government and courts had equal powers to put an end to blind beliefs. He said that the ban on entry of women into the temple was not a belief.

“Beliefs are protected and guaranteed in the Constitution. Blind beliefs that are unhealthy and destructive should have to end,” he clarified.

He also compared the ban on entry to practices like Sati, Devadasi, and Made Made Snana.

Justice Das recollected landmark judgements, like on triple Talaq, in order to justify that such interference happened regarding other religions too and was not restricted to Hinduism. He also clarified Articles 25 to 30 in the Constitution did not contradict each other. “Every article has a purpose,” he explained.

Re-interpretation

The areas of concern highlighted by Justice Das included separation of religion from politics, the idea of welfare state and fundamentalism. “Many of the problems and challenges in society are not because of the Constitution. The fault lies in interpretation of the Constitution, which is not whole-hearted and not in tune with the Indian ethos. Democracy needs to be re-interpreted in favour of the common man,” he stressed.

Justice Das, who has authored a book in Kannada, called ‘Samvidhana Odu’, urged the students to read and understand the Constitution. “If everyone were to live according to the Constitution, then the nation will flourish,” he said.

St Aloysius College principal Fr Praveen Martis, who presided over the programme, said that the Constitution of India continues to intrigue and inspire us even today.

Vishanz Pinto, dean (Faculty of Arts), was present during the interaction.