Kashi Vishwanath Temple: Plea In Allahabad High Court Challenges 'Sugam Darshan' Calling It 'System Of Collecting Money'

A PIL (Public Interest Litigation) plea has been moved in the Allahabad High Court challenging the 'Sugam Darshan' system in the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Banaras, UP, which provides for 'VIP' (Very Important Person) mode of 'darshan' on payment of some amount. The plea has been moved by one Gajendra Singh Yadav, a law student averring that this system allows any person to become 'VIP' on payment of some amount and thereby discriminates against similarly situated people with not so much money. The plea further states that the 'Sugam Darshan' system isn't in favor of Divyangs or disabled persons and that the "queue-less, hassle-free Darshan system is nothing but a way of collecting money". "…if the Sri Kashi Vishwanath Temple trust/board was willing to provide convenience for physically disabled persons, then there would have been no requirement of payment for availing the service", the plea further states. The plea advocates that the darshan system should be made free for disabled persons as similar facilities have been provided to disabled persons/divyangs in every government or public buildings, office, and institution, etc. Against this backdrop, the petitioner states that if the 'Sugam Darshan' system seeks to ease the convenience of the pilgrims who come for Darshan, then under it, the concept of 'Pay Darshan' cannot be allowed. Further, averring that in worship or offering of 'Lord Shiv', 'Sparsh Darshan' is believed to be having great importance and stating that it also classifies as 'Right to Religion' under Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India, the plea claims that only some people are allowed to do 'Sparsh Darshan' in the temple and which amounts to discrimination. In this regard, the plea states thus: "In Shri Kashiwanath Temple there is barricading around the 'Shiv Linga' in the temple for a majority of the time. He avers that barricading gets opened occasionally but for a short period of time only and for most of the time it is kept intact and person are forced to pour water (jal), milk (doodh) and other offerings only from above the Shiv Linga without touching it." Apart from this, the plea also claims that in the temple, general people are hardly allowed to properly perform their offerings. "Persons those who are there for the management of temple, push out the devotees shortly after entering into the 'Garbha Griha' (Sanctum Santorum) (and this) causes humiliation to devotees," the plea states. Further, the Plea also alleges that known or relatives of persons who are part of the above Trust or Temple are given special treatment by way of allowing out of turn 'Darshan' to them, which, the plea claims, discriminates with the other devotees. Lastly, the plea also seeks to draw the attention of the Court towards the prevalent system in the temple, as per which, no milk or sweets are allowed from outside of temple allegedly, due to security reasons. In this regard, the plea submits thus: "…shops which are inside the boundaries of the temple sell milk and sweets at substantially higher prices such as milk worth Rs. 28 for Rs. 50-60 and sweets at Rs. 400 per kg instead of the outside rate of Rs. 280 per kg."

Kashi Vishwanath Temple: Plea In Allahabad High Court Challenges 'Sugam Darshan' Calling It 'System Of Collecting Money'

Sparsh Upadhyay

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