Sabarimala Reference | Live Updates From Supreme Court 9-Judge Bench [Day 8]

Venugopal: the restrictions imposed by the state on how religious funds may be managed or invested, even though our scriptures may impose specific obligations on the trustees regarding preservation, augmentation of religious funds, such as. It has been referred in Rathilal where the constitution bench basically said that where a devotees make contribution to be utilised in a particular manner and no other for the religion.

Venugopal: a secular state ought not to be administering temples and controlling temple management, staffing and financial decisions. we are particularly concerned about acquisition of sacred sites which are believed for millennia to be divine and sacred sites of worship by the Jain Community. I may only tell mylords are are even older than Buddhism. If we look at Mahaveer, who is the 24th Tirthankar, he historically existed in the 8th or 9th century.

Sr Adv Krishnan Venugopal(for Jain Organisations): I may add mylords for the last so many days have been getting a very hindu perspective and there are briefly Mr Subramanium who spoke on behalf of Parsis but largely focused on hindu perspective.

we are concerned for all religions about increasing instances of state intervention in the practices of all religions, whether through legislative or judicial intervention.

J Sundresh: wider import will have to be given to the word denomination under article 26 to make it inclusive of different sects and groups.

J Sundresh: no need to go into all this, if you say article 25(1) which says about conscience it doesn't speak of religion. if a common believer having a conscience and then they can form denomination. They have to give effect to the word conscience.

J Bagchi: the legal interpretation that you are giving of denomination may become problematic because we will be reading an independent expression consciously used by the constitution marker and equating denomination with religion.

J Bagchi: when the makers used the word religion as in article 25(1), as one religion or section thereof, instead of using the word denomination, the denomination must be given a distinct and different meaning from religion. if we give a generic meaning, as you suggested that the religion encompasses everyone and it should be treated as a denomination in contradistinction to other religion, if we do that we would be giving the same meaning in article 25 and making the two words same. but the markers have used consciously denomination in article 26 and religion in article 25(1).

J Sundresh: there may be private denominations that can become public character. India is such a wonderful country, each place is different, some have family deity etc

Raj: why we are before you? for 75 years, the interpretation given for the religious denomination-rights of majority of hindus, I say so coming from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, 95% don't belong to any denomination which is so-called approved by this court, where do we go?

J Nagarathna: temples follow Shivaite, Vaishnavite worship, and that is why they are called denominations. Now, in a Shivaite type of worship, Vaishnavite can't say we would like a Vaishnavite form of worship. there is a difference. Therefore, that form of worship is protected. that has nothing to do with organisation; that is not necessary. A Hindu is a hindu and he can go to any temple.