Supreme Court Asks Nagpur Parsi Panchayat If Woman Who Married Outside Community Can Be Permitted To Offer Prayers At Aghyari

The Supreme Court on Monday explored the possibility of granting limited interim permission to a Parsi woman who had an interfaith marriage to offer prayers at Nagpur's only Agiary and participate in funeral and Muktad prayers.A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi, however, made it clear that it would avoid passing any order that could indicate a prima facie view on the larger constitutional issues pending before the nine-judge bench in the Sabarimala reference regarding the right of a religous denomination to excommunicate.“Please get hold of those orders on consent to the extent the other Parsi Panchayats have permitted to attend funeral prayers of the father, organizations, etc. To that extent, we may give the same…We can pass the order without it being that the order is sort of a prima facie view”, Justice Bagchi told the counsel for the parties. The Court listed the matter on Friday for further consideration.The Court was hearing a plea challenging Rule 5(2) of the Constitution of the Nagpur Parsi Panchayat which provides that a Parsi or Irani Zoroastrian woman who marries a non-Parsi man and bears children from that marriage will not be accepted as a Parsi Zoroastrian, along with her children.The petition challenges the Panchayat rule as discriminatory because it excludes Parsi women who marry non-Parsi men from religious identity and temple access, while imposing no comparable consequence on Parsi men who marry outside the faith.During the hearing, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan for the petitioner sought interim arrangements pending a final decision on the constitutional issues. He highlighted that such arrangements are already available to similarly situated Parsi women in places such as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Pune.He requested that the petitioner be permitted to offer prayers at the Nagpur Agiary, participate in Muktad prayers relating to her grandmother who died in September 2024, attend funeral prayers of deceased Zoroastrians, and participate in ceremonies and events held at the Agiary concerning family members, relatives and friends.Divan told the Court that Nagpur has only one Agiary and that the nearest alternative fire temple is in Indore, around 400 kilometres away.Divan said that the petitioner was born to Parsi Zoroastrian parents, was brought up in the faith and had always practised the religion. He said she married a Hindu man under the Special Marriage Act, but never renounced her religion. He argued that the Special Marriage Act was enacted precisely to facilitate interfaith marriages without requiring conversion.Divan contrasted Rule 5(2) with the treatment accorded to Parsi men who marry non-Parsi women. Under the Panchayat rules, while such wives and children may be denied benefits from Panchayat funds and properties, the Parsi man's own religious status remains unaffected, he said. He emphasised that the petitioner was seeking only interim arrangements.CJI Kant pointed out that the broader question concerning differential treatment of Parsi women and men had already been argued extensively before the nine-judge Bench hearing the Sabarimala reference. He remarked that passing an order which directly or indirectly reflected an opinion on the pending constitutional issues would not be advisable.Justice Bagchi asked the parties to place on record orders passed in similar matters where relief had been granted by consent and sought information regarding the position adopted by other Parsi Panchayats.The Court asked the Nagpur Parsi Panchayat's counsel, Senior Advocate Balbir Singh, to take instructions on the possibility of a consensual arrangement for the limited period until the Constitution Bench delivers its judgment. “Whatever law will be laid down, that in any case everybody will follow,” the CJI remarked.Justice Bagchi noted that if similar arrangements had been permitted elsewhere, the Court could extend the same relief without expressing any prima facie opinion on the constitutional questions involved.The writ petition seeks striking down of Rule 5(2) of the Nagpur Parsi Panchayat Constitution as unconstitutional. It also seeks declarations that Parsi women continue to remain Parsis after marrying men of another faith and are entitled to the same treatment accorded to Parsi men who marry outside the community.The issue involved in the case overlaps with issues already before the nine-judge Bench in the Sabarimala reference. One of the tagged matters arises from the case of Goolrokh Gupta, a Parsi woman who married a Hindu man under the Special Marriage Act and challenged restrictions imposed on her entry into Parsi religious institutions. During the hearing in the reference, the 9-judge bench questioned the practice of barring a Parsi woman from entering an Agiary after marrying outside the faith. Justice BV Nagarathna observed that the right to conscience under Article 25(1) is acquired by birth and cannot be taken...

Supreme Court Asks Nagpur Parsi Panchayat If Woman Who Married Outside Community Can Be Permitted To Offer Prayers At Aghyari

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Supreme Court Asks Nagpur Parsi Panchayat If Woman Who Married Outside Community Can Be Permitted To Offer Prayers At Aghyari

Amisha Shrivastava

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