Khan Iqbal
DECEMBER 8—The Rajasthan High Court has endorsed an order issued by the Director-General of Police calling to halt the construction of temples, shrines, and places of worship in government offices.
The three-page judgment was delivered by a Rajasthan High Court Bench led by Chief Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice Rekha Borana while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Pooja Gurnani. The petitioner claimed the police had interfered with religious beliefs by issuing a circular preventing the construction of religious structures inside government offices and complexes.
Gurnani, through the PIL, had challenged a circular issued on October 25, 2021, by the Rajasthan Additional Director General of Police (Police Housing) A Ponnuchami. The circular quoting the State Religious Buildings and Places Act, 1954 categorically stated that places of worship could not be constructed in public places, government buildings, parks, and other such public places.
Ponnuchami, through his circular, directed all Superintendents of Police and in-charge of other units to ensure strict compliance with the Act. The circular prohibits the construction of shrines inside police stations and offices and stipulates that the 1954 Act prohibits the use of public places for religious purposes.
Ponnuchami said a trend had been witnessed during recent years on the construction of places of worship with public participation in police stations and office complexes on the pretext of faith. “There is no provision for such construction in the building plans drafted and approved for the police offices,” he said.
Dismissing the PIL, the high court said, “The operative portion is in the last paragraph [of the circular] in which, as noted above all that the authority issuing the circular desires is that the provisions of the Act of 1954 should be implemented carefully by all concerned. We don’t see how the petitioner can be said to be aggrieved by this circular.”
Further, the court also dismissed Gurnani’s demand that government buildings and police stations be excluded from “public places” under the 1954 Act. Justice Kureshi explained that “no direction can be issued to the legislature to frame a law in a particular manner.”
Expectedly the circular generated political ruckus with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) describing it as “Anti-Hindu.” However, several other organizations welcomed the move.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties-Rajasthan said the judgment had correctly upheld the right of the State to maintain public places as secular places. Also, the law was clear that public places, including government properties, could not have any religious structure. “Temple construction in police stations is in complete violation of the Act [of 1954], and the growth of temples amounts to a brazen encroachment on public land,” PUCL state president Kavita Srivastava said.
While expecting that other departments and district collectors would follow suit, Srivastava said the mere issuance of a circular would not change the situation. The authorities trying to enforce the law would face a backlash from the Hindutva forces. “The next logical step is the booking of criminal cases against the Station House Officers who allow such constructions,” she said.
“The insidious agenda of the petitioner was to legitimize the conversion of public places like police stations into places which offer worship to deities from one religion alone,” Srivastava added.
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has welcomed the Rajasthan High Court order but has also expressed reservations.
Speaking to India Tomorrow, Dr. Iqbal Siddiqui, General Secretary of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Rajasthan, while welcoming the high court order, said, “Either there should no religious places or places of worship in any government offices or there should be religious places or places of worship of all religions.”
According to Dr. Siddiqui, “Practically in almost all the police stations and all government buildings of Rajasthan, temples have been set up.” He adds, “There are seven temples in the Rajasthan University campus. So, the order would only be said to be implemented when all these temples set up illegally are removed.”
