Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
ALL INDIA DEMOCRATIC WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION ANDJANWADI SAMITI
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
DATE OF JUDGMENT17/03/1989
BENCH:
MISRA RANGNATH
BENCH:
MISRA RANGNATH
VENKATACHALLIAH, M.N. (J)
CITATION:
1989 AIR 1280 1989 SCR (2) 66
1989 SCC (2) 411 JT 1989 (1) 548
1989 SCALE (1)680
ACT:
Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987: Chunri Cer
e-
mony-Whether glorification of Sati--Maintenance of Sa
ti
temple and support to social institutions of utility out
of
income earned pending determination- Permissibility of.
HEADNOTE:
By an ex-parte order made in the writ petition on 9
th
September, 1988, the Court prohibited respondent No. 2, t
he
management of the Sri Rani Satiji’s Mandir, from performi
ng
Chunri ceremony within the temple and directed the enti
re
collection of money to be separately accounted for a
nd
deposited into a nationalised bank.
In this miscellaneous petition, the management soug
ht
vacation of the ad interim order and lot a direction to t
he
authorities not to interfere in the matter of collection
of
money as also articles of gold and silver of deities.
Disposing of the miscellaneous petition, the Court,
Ordered:
1. The restraint imposed on holding the Chunri ceremo
ny
within the temple should continue without any variatio
n.
[68G-H]
2.1 Pending disposal of the writ .petition, the temp
le
complex has to be maintained. Therefore, out of the inco
me
earned maintenance expenses must be met. [69A]
2.2 If out of the income of this institution any contr
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i-
bution was being made to sustain some social institutions
of
utility, the support should not die out. [69B-C]
2.3 The respondent No. 2 is free to move the Distri
ct
Magistrate in regard to these two aspects and in case t
he
latter is satisfied that appropriate funds should be r
e-
leased out of the deposits in the bank for
67
one or both of the above said purposes, he would be free
to
make an appropriate order in respect thereof. [69C]
JUDGMENT:
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Civil Misc. Petition No. 28180
of
1988.
IN
Writ Petition No. 9 13 of 1988
(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.)
Mrs. K. Hingorani and Ms. Santosh Singh for the Petitioner
.
A.K. Sen (Not Present), Dr. L.M. Singhvi, Vivek Gambhi
r,
Parveen Kumar and B.D. Sharma for the Respondents.
S.P. Singh for the Impleading party.
The following Order of the Court was delivered:
ORDER
This Court on 9.9.1988 after hearing counsel for t
he
petitioners in the writ petition made an ex parte order
to
the following effect:
"Issue notice returnable on Tuesday, the 13
th
September, 1988. In view of the allegations made in Par
a-
graph 4 of the affidavit given by Vijay Trivedi, the R
e-
spondent No. 2 is prohibited from performing any Chun
ri
Ceremony within Sri Rani Satiji’s Mandir and the responden
ts
are directed to enforce this order on the th September, 19
88
and on any other occasion thereafter until further order
s.
The entire collection of money shall be separately account
ed
for and should be deposited into a nationalised bank,
so
that appropriate directions after hearing both the parti
es
may be made by this Court in regard to the same ..... "
On 10th of September, 1988, the annual Satiji Mela w
as
scheduled to be celebrated within the said temple premises
.
The management of the temple, respondent No. 2, in t
he
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writ petition has now applied for vacating the ad inter
im
order and for a
68
direction to the District Magistrate, Jhunjhunu to retu
rn
the keys of the Bhetpatras of the temple and the box
es
containing the articles of gold and silver and also for
a
direction to him not to interfere in the matter of colle
c-
tion of money as also collection of articles of gold a
nd
silver of deities located in the premises of the temple a
nd
to make such other orders as may be necessary to meet t
he
situation.
We have heard Dr. Singhvi in support of the petitio
n,
Mrs. Hingorani for the petitioners in the writ petiti
on
asking for sustaining the interim order and Mr. Sharma f
or
the State of Rajasthan. An affidavit has been filed by t
he
District Magistrate of Jhunjhunu in the course of heari
ng
which has also been placed before us.
Broadly two aspects require consideration: (1) wheth
er
the ’Chunry’ ceremony should be permitted to be perform
ed
within the temple and (2) whether out of the amounts whi
ch
are being deposited in the nationalised bank in terms of t
he
interim order, the expenses for maintenance of the temp
le
complex, performance of the daily rites as also the usu
al
charities should not be made.
Under the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 198
7,
glorification of Sati is strictly prohibited and that a
ct
has been declared to be an offence. Dr. Singhvi by referri
ng
to different dictionaries has tried to impress upon us th
at
Chunry as such is not connected with glorification of Sa
ti
and is a ceremony connected with the traditional form
of
offering worship known as Sodash Upachar while Mrs. Hingor
a-
ni and Mr. Sharma do not accept the submission made by D
r.
Singhvi and have maintained that in the State of Rajasth
an
Chunry ceremony is always associated with glorifying Sa
ti
and the celebration is a part of the traditional process
of
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religious offerings in Sati temples. This certainly is n
ot
the stage in the proceedings for a final view of the que
s-
tion as to whether performance of Chunry ceremony amounts
to
glorification of Sati and the determination must be left
to
the final stage. We do not think it would be appropriate f
or
us to express any view beyond this point at this stage
as
the same may embarrass the bench which would ultimately he
ar
the matter.
We are, therefore, of the view that the restraint i
m-
posed on holding the Chunry ceremony within the temp
le
should continue without any variation. The contention of D
r.
Singhvi that Chunry is a part of Sodash Upachar will have
to
be examined at length at the later stage.
69
Now a look at the other aspect. There can be no t
wo
opinions that pending disposal of the writ petition, t
he
temple complex has to be maintained and out of the inco
me
earned maintenance expense must be met. The submissi
on
advanced by Mrs. Hingorani that the temple should be co
n-
verted forthwith into rehabilitation camps for uncared f
or
ladies is certainly not one requiring any serious consider
a-
tion. There is no provision in the statute or in any oth
er
law which would warrant such change of user of the premise
s.
Similarly if out of the income of this institution a
ny
contribution was being made to sustain some social instit
u-
tions of utility, the support should not die out. The r
e-
spondent No. 2 is free to move the District Magistrate
of
Jhunjhunu in regard to these two aspects and in case t
he
District Magistrate is satisfied that appropriate fun
ds
should be released out of the deposits in the bank for o
ne
or both of the purposes indicated above he would be free
to
direct such money as may be found necessary to be withdra
wn
from the bank for being utilised for the purposes as may
be
specified by the District Magistrate m his order to be mad
e.
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This disposes of the Civil Miscellaneous Petition.
P.S.S.
70