Mumbai: On Friday, the Bombay High
Court rejected a petition filed by a social activist from Thane seeking a
recall of the April 1 court order allowing the entry of women inside temples,
observing that there would not be any prejudice caused to the petitioner and
she did not have any locus standi in the case.
As per EXIN
Times, the order was passed after the state had assured the court that there
would be no gender discrimination.
A division
bench of chief justice DH Waghela and justice MS Sonak had raised questions
about the maintainability of the petition. The court raised this query because
the petitioner was not a party in the original petition filed by senior
advocate Nilima Vartak and activist Vidya Bal.
The court,
while disposing of the petition of Vartak and Bal, had said: “The state
government has to take proactive steps to properly implement the provisions of
the Maharashtra Hindu Place of Worship (Entry Authorisation) Act, 1956.” As per
the provisions in the Act, those preventing anyone from entering a temple face
six months of imprisonment.
The
petitioners had challenged the bar on the entry of women in the sanctum
sanctorum of Shani Shingnapur temple in the state’s Ahmednagar district.
However, the court said it cannot pass any specific directions with regard to a
particular case, but can only give general directions to the government.
Activist
Sunita Patil claimed in her petition that the provisions of the Maharashtra
Hindu Place of Worship (Entry Authorization) Act, 1956 are being read
incorrectly to allow the entry of women into temples. They were formulated for
doing away with caste and creed and the entry of people belonging to the
backward classes into temples, the petition said.
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