Individuals challenging religious practices would break all religions & courts: SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed grave apprehension over allowing individuals to challenge religious practices and said it would break every religion and constitutional court as thousands would clog courts with PILs, based on self-assessments of these customs, to seek quashing the customs and norms.

The remark came from a bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justices B V Nagarathna, M M Sundresh, A Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, A G Masih, P B Varale, R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi after senior advocate Raju Ramachandran said since the Constitution focuses on protecting an individual’s fundamental rights, constitutional courts must step in if a religious practice or custom violates the rights of an individual. Justice Nagarathna said, “If every individual is free to approach the constitutional court to question or challenge religious practices and customs in constitutional courts, what will happen to our civilisation, which is intrinsically linked to religion?”

Justice Sundresh said, “In such a scenario, every religion and constitutional court will break as thousands of individuals, with different views about religion and religious practices, will come to court clogging the system. A religious custom or practice may be regressive from the viewpoint of an individual, and the same could be an essential religious practice for another. How does the court determine who is right? Should courts get mired in adjudicating religious matters?” He clarified he did not mean a person, wronged by a religious practice, had no remedies. He/she can surely move the civil courts.

The debate over fundamental rights and faith-based customs saw Ramachandran standing firm with his opinion that individual’s fundamental rights cannot be violated through religious customs. “We are a constitutional civilisation, where nothing can violate fundamental rights. Any violation would entitle the aggrieved individual to approach courts under Article 32 of the Constitution,” he said.