The Supreme Court has dismissed the petition filed against the inauguration of the Mysore Dussehra celebrations with writer Banu Mushtaq. The petitioner had opposed the Muslim woman to start a Hindu religious program, but the court said that this is a government program. The court also gave an example of inaugurating the program from poet Nisar Ahmed in 2017.
A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta said that this is a government program. India is a secular country. The government cannot discriminate on religious grounds. He has called a reputed person. Keep in mind that Banu is a well-known writer awarded the Mushtaq Pulitzer Award.
The petitioner HS Gaurav had argued that the ceremony begins with the traditional worship of Chamundeshwari Devi. The state government is going to invite a Muslim woman to the temple and inaugurate the program. It interferes in religious matters. The petitioner linked it to the fundamental right to manage religious freedom and religious affairs, Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution.
In view of the attitude of the judges, the petitioner’s counsel said that no objection can be made if the program is to be inaugurated by cutting a ribbon etc., but it is not right to give prominence to non -Hindu in the religious rituals within the temple. The court should ask the government to keep his chief guest away from the temple program, but the judges refused to give any order.
Earlier on September 15, the Karnataka High Court also refused to interfere in the case. In the High Court too, the petitioners had said that this step of the state government is going to hurt the religious sentiments of millions of Hindus, but the High Court had said that no rights of the petitioner are being violated in the case.