New Delhi: Observing that access to justice cannot be dented by any person, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Delhi police commissioner to probe into the over 500 threatening calls received by the president of Indian Young Lawyers Association, Naushad Ahmed Khan and the advocate on record Ravi Prakash Gupta for filing a PIL petition challenging denial of entry to women of 10 to 50 years into Sabarimala Ayyappa temple.
A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and N.V. Ramana in a brief order said, “That these calls specially to advocate-on-record are the direct interference in matters of administration of justice as the matter is still sub-judice before the SC. The present interlocutory application exposits and asserts such facts, if they are true, would definitely have the strength to create a dent in the fundamental concept of Rule of Law which is sacrosanct in a democratic polity.”
The order said, “It has been asserted that there were innumerable threats inclusive of death threats to the President of the Petitioner-Association, from Kerala, abroad and Delhi. The thrust of the matter is whether women within the age group of 10 to 50 should be allowed to enter into Sabarimala temple or not has to be debated when the matter is taken up for hearing by this Court. Hearing in a court of law is not dependent, especially in a PIL by any person. Once it is entertained, even if the president of the association wants to withdraw it, the SC may decline.”
