Chennai: No god wants a fight among its devotees, and if they cannot worship peacefully, then the temple has to remain under lock and key, the Madras high court observed while dismissing a PIL, which sought to remove the sealing of a temple in a village near Chennai.
Petitioner E. Saman of Aalathur village, Tiruporur taluk, Kanchipuram district, said the village housed two Gangaiyamman temples that were of over 75 years old.
The revenue authorities sealed one temple located on ‘meichal poromboke’ land, following complaints from a section of villagers who were devotees of the other Gangaiyamman temple.
Saman said that the villagers were divided into groups over the issue. In an effort to bring peace among the groups, authorities conducted peace committee meetings. He filed the present PIL as there was no response to his representation to the collector. Saman sought a direction to authorities to remove the seal, enabling villagers to offer worship at the temple.
The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, said, “We note with regret the divisiveness in society to an extent that even over the issue of worshipping in temples, there is a fight. There are stated to be two Gangaiyamman temples in the village. We are unable to accept the plea of the petitioner’s counsel that it was an interference with the right to worship. No god demands that people should fight over worshipping Him. If people cannot peacefully worship, then the temple would have to be locked,” the bench said.
The bench said that the administration took the right decision in locking the temple till better sense prevailed over the people of the area.
