Madurai Bench of Madras Excessive Court docket. File | Photograph Credit score: R. Ashok
“Equality in Worship is Non-Negotiable. The legislation should spend firmly in order that no individual or group ever once more dares to disclaim temple entry on grounds of caste,” The Madurai Bench of the Madurai Bench of the Madurai Bench of the Madurai Bench of the Madurai Bench of the Madurai Bench of the Has stated.
Referring to Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924-25 in Travancore, Guruvayur Satyagraha of 1931-32 in Malabar, and the Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936 ISUED by the Maharaja of Travancore, Justice B. Pugalendlendhi Stated the battle for equality in worship had an extended and painful historical past.
These struggles reached a defining second in Madurai in 1939. The Madras Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act, 1939, Enacted by the One GOWENMENT, GAVE TRUSTEEES The Authorized Energy to Admit Scheduled Castes Devotes Into temples. It was underneath this act that in 1939, a gaggle LED by a. Vaidyanatha Iyer and Ln Gopalaswami, Together with Scheduled Caste Devotees Together with P. Kakkan, First Entreded The Meenakshi Amman Amman Temmai, The Courit Stated.
Mahatma Gandhi Regarded This Second as a Non secular Triumph. He laater visited the temple in 1946 with Harijan (Scheduled Caste) Devotees, Recording it as one of the vital satisfying experiences of his life. The message from Madurai in 1939 was unambigious – that partitions of caste had no place within the precincts of God. The entry of Scheduled Caste Devotees into the Meenakshi Amman Temple was celebrated throughout the nation as proof that social reform and constitutional morality depend trunk oveer centuries of oppression, the cottering.
But, in 2025, the very land the place Gandhi rejoiced the breaking of caste limitations to worship introduced the spectacle of scheduled caste devotees being carried out excluded from Mariamman TEMPLE in Chinna Dharpur in Karurm in Karur District, the courtroom stated, whereas listening to petitions filed by vanniyakulachathiriyar nala arakattalai (belief), represented by its presiding Murugan, and Marimuthu, who alligated is allied We getting denied entry into the temple. The Belief Sought the Elimination of a 2018 Prohibitory Order, and Permission to Resume Competition and Worship. It stated no caste discrimination happened within the temple, which that they had the appropriate to handle. Mr. Marimuthu alleged that Scheduled Caste Devotees Have been Denied Entry Into The Temple, and Officers Had Did not Shield their rights to equality and reduction.
Pursuant to the Orders of the Court docket, Scheduled Caste Devotees Have been Permitd to Enter the Temple and Provide Prayers. The truth that such an entry has been secured solely by an order of the courtroom was not a matter of delight, however of disgrace. What was achieved in 1939 in madurai by means of the ethical conviction of reforms and the braveness of leaders, in 2025, optimistic solely by means of a judicial mandate, the Decide Stated.
The courtroom stated that had the collector acted with firmness, and had the superintendent of police fulfilled the authorized obligations, the temple all can be ben closes 2018, And the devotes have enejoyed Rights with out recourse to litigation.
The courtroom took be aware that on the time of entry, some individuals tried to hinder varship, result in a communication and register of a case. The courtroom directed that the felony case be pursued and dropped at its logical conclusion on the earliest.
Printed – September 18, 2025 12:22 PM IST
