Right to Religion can't be invoked for offering worship at each and every place, held HC [Read Order]

The Karnataka High Court in one of its recent judgement observed that the Fundamental Right to Religion under Article 25 of the Constitution of India cannot be invoked to protect a temple which is illegally built on a footpath.

The Court thus opined that the right to construct an unauthorized temple/any other religious structure cannot be said to be part of any religion or religious practice protected under Article 25 of the Constitution.

The Court held:

"The fundamental right under Article 25 of the Constitution of India does not extend to offering worship or prayers at each and every place. Surely, the fundamental right under Article 25 of the Constitution of India cannot be invoked for protecting an illegal structure of a temple which is on a footpath. The right to construct unauthorized temple and that also on a footpath cannot be said to be an essential part of any religion or religious practice which can be protected under Article 25 of the Constitution of India."

The Court was dealing with a writ petition showing the failure of BBMP to demolish an unauthorized temple built on a footpath. and observed that the concerned Authority had been postponing the action of demolition citing 'one reason or the other'.

A Residents Welfare Association (RWA) had intervened in the writ petition to protect the temple. I

It argued that initially, the construction was not on a road or a footpath but as the road was widened, it may be on the footpath now,

The Court while coming down heavy on the RWA, stated that it's the duty of the citizens is to see that no illegal structure, especially illegal religious structure, comes up in their locality.

Teh Court stated in its order:

"The duty of the citizens is to see that no illegal structure and especially, illegal religious structure comes up in their locality. But they want to protect a temple which has come up on a footpath. In fact, that was the precise observation made in paragraph 5 of the order dated 4th March 2020. If the intention of the applicants was really bona fide, long back, they could have applied for relocation of the temple from the footpath. But their intention appears to be to protect the illegality."

It further noted,

"We do not think that any god or religion will support an illegal religious structure which is on a footpath. A religious structure cannot become an obstacle on a footpath which is meant for walking."

Inter alia, the Court imposed fine of ₹25,000 on the members of RWA, which is to be deposited in the Chief Minister's COVID-19 Relief Fund within six weeks.

The Court though refrained from passing any adverse order against BBMP for not processing the temple demolition order considering the COVID-19 Lockdown in the state.

"Considering the fact that the city is under lockdown, we are not passing any adverse order against BBMP as of today while we remind BBMP of its legal obligations."

The matter will be next take up for hearing on July 30.

The order has been passed by a Division Bench comprising of of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice M Nagaprasanna on 21-07-2020.

Read Order Here: