Every community has fundamental right to hold religious procession on roads without insulting sentiments of other religions: Madras High Court

Religious fundamentalism has to be discouraged and permitting religious intolerance, be it from any religious group, will damage the secular character of India, the Madras High Court recently observed (Ramasamy Udayar v. The District Collector and ors)..Crucially, the Court also held that every religious group has got fundamental right to take out religious procession through all the roads without insulting the religious sentiments of people from other religions. ."Merely because there is one place of worship belonging to another religious group, the same cannot be a ground to decline/ deny permission to conduct procession, including a religious procession, of other religions to go through those roads or streets," the Court underscored. .Roads and streets, which are "secular", can be used by all people irrespective of their religion, caste or creed, the Court emphasised..The Court was adjudicating a dispute that involved a standoff between Hindu and Muslim residents over the conduct of certain Hindu festivals at V Kalathur village. .In this case, objections were raised against the conduct of the Hindu festivals along certain stretches of government land on the ground that these areas were dominated by Muslims. .A Bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and P Velmurugan noted that if such religious intolerance is allowed, the secular character of India would be damaged. ."If religious intolerance is going to be allowed, it is not good for a secular country. Intolerance in any form by any religious group has to be curtailed and prohibited. In this case, intolerance of a particular religious group is exhibited by objecting for the festivals which have been conducted for decades together and the procession through the streets and roads of the village are sought to be prohibited stating that the area is dominated by Muslims and therefore, there cannot be any Hindu festival or procession through the locality. India is a secular country and merely because one religious group is living in majority in a particular area, it cannot be a reason for not allowing other religious festivals or processions through that area," the judgment stated..The Court added that if religious festivals are halted because the majority of the population in a certain area was of another faith, "it would create a situation in which minority people cannot conduct any festival or procession in most of the areas in India." ."If resistance is being exhibited by one religious group and it is reciprocated by the other religious groups, there would be chaos, riots, religious fights causing loss of lives and destruction of properties. Consequently, the secular character of our country will be destroyed or damaged," the Court said..Moreover, the Bench pointed out that common roads are accessible to all, regardless of their religion. There cannot be an order to prohibit the conduct of religious festivals in streets or roads when the same is being conducted for years together, the Court went on to observe. .If any law and order problem is apprehended, the same may be regulated and the police asked to intervene and give appropriate protection, the Court said. ."The temples are there for decades together. Merely because a religious group got settled in a locality and has become vociferous, they cannot object to the custom of taking Temple's procession through all the streets in the Village and consequent upon their objections, the customary and traditional practices cannot be prevented or prohibited," the judgment stated further..The dispute concerned 96 cents of government poramboke land. The Court was told that the Muslim residents earlier wanted to use the land as a common place, whereas the Hindus claimed long use and objected to common usage. Many clashes had also taken place on the said land and cases were also filed against both parties..Up until 2011-2012, there was no issue with the conduct of certain Hindu festivals concerning three temples in the area, the Court went on to note. In 2012, the Court noted that the Muslims started objecting to the conduct of some of the Hindu festivals, terming them as "sins." Between 2012-2015, the conduct of these festivals took place subject to certain conditions and on the strength of court orders, after petitions were filed protesting their conduct/ seeking protection for their conduct. .In 2018, an order was passed by the Revenue Divisional Officer allowing the conduct of the festivals, subject to certain conditions, invoking Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The restricted conduct of the festivals was challenged in the High Court. A single Judge earlier allowed the festivals' to be conducted subject to certain conditions, which was again challenged..The Division Bench, in turn, allowed the conduct of the three-day Hindu festivals on the following terms, i.e." .... the case of the petitioner has to be accepted and there shall be a direction to the authorities to permit the Hindus to conduct two processions on the first and second day of the village temple festivals through all the streets and roads which have been conducted till 2015. As far as the procession on the third day of temple festival is concerned, the petitioner himself accepted that Hindus would not conduct the procession in which the turmeric water would be sprinkled.".The case also prompted the Bench to issue the following clarificatory guidelines:.1. Once it has been declared by the authorities as roads or streets as per Section 180-A of the District Municipalities Act, the roads and streets, which are "secular", should be used as roads by all the people irrespective of their religion, caste or creed.2. Any procession including religious procession shall be conducted through all the roads and streets without any restriction. 3. Any procession including religious procession cannot be prohibited or curtailed merely because another religious group is residing or doing business in the area predominantly. 4. There can be only regulation by the police or other governmental authorities to see that no untoward incident occurs or any law and order problem arises. 5. Every religious group has got fundamental right to take out religious procession through all the roads without insulting the other religious sentiments and without raising any slogans against other religious groups, affecting their sentiments, public law and order. 6.Merely because there is one place of worship belonging to another religious group, the same cannot be a ground to decline/ deny permission to conduct procession, including a religious procession, of other religions to go through those roads or streets.7.The presence of religious structures/ places of worship cannot take away the right of other religious groups who have been enjoying all the rights including the conduct of religious procession for the past many years..Before parting with the matter, the Court also directed that the criminal cases filed against both sets of parties be withdrawn..[Read the Judgment]