Sabarimala
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IN
ITEM NO.304
COURT NO.4
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
I.A. 3/2016 in Writ Petition(s)(Civil)
SECTION PIL(W)
I N D I A
No(s).
INDIAN YOUNG LAWYERS ASSOCIATION & ORS.
373/2006
Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
STATE OF KERALA & ORS.
Respondent(s)
(for directions and office report)
Date : 18/01/2016 This application was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DIPAK MISRA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PINAKI CHANDRA GHOSE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA
For Petitioner(s)
For Respondent(s)
Mr. R.P. Gupta, AOR
Mr.
Ms.
Mr.
Mr.
Ms.
Mr.
V. giri, Sr. Adv.
Liz Mathew, Adv.
M.F. Philip, Adv.
Mohammed Siddiqui T.A., Adv.
Swetha Shankar, Adv.
Manav Vohra, Adv.
Mr. K.K. Venugopal, Sr. Adv.
Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, Adv.
Ms. Bina Madhavan, Adv.
Ms. Shrinjan Khosla, Adv.
Ms. Swati Vellodi, Adv.
M/s. Lawyer S Knit & Co,Adv.
Mr. R. Sathish, AOR
Ms. Nisha Mohandas, Adv.Mr. K. V. Mohan, AOR
Mr. K.V. Balakrishnan, Adv.
Mr.
Ms.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Signature Not Verified
Digitally signed by
Gulshan Kumar Arora
Date: 2016.01.18
17:12:59 IST
Reason:
K. Ramamoorthy, Sr. Adv.
N. Shoba, AOR
Sri Ram J., Thalapathy, Adv.
V. Adhimoolam, Adv.
Shilp Vinod, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
The
present
interlocutory
application
exposits
and
asserts
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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 body polity.
It has been asservated
that there have been innumerable threats inclusive of death threats
to
the
President
of
the
Petitioner-Association,
namely,
Indian
Young Lawyers' Association for agitating the grievance in this writ
petition preferred under Article 32 of the Constitution of India
which is basically a public interest litigation.
Access to justice cannot be dented by any authority or any
person.
It can only be controlled by a court of law within the
parameters of law.
room.
Individual whim or fancy or perception has no
However, to have the complete picture, we think it apt to
reproduce
four
paragraphs
from
the
application
which
follows :
3. That on news flashed in media about its
hearing on 11th Jan, 2016, the President of
petitioner's association has received about five
hundred local, STD & ISD calls both from India
and abroad.
Some of these calls were of
threatening in nature. Since he happened to be a
Muslim and hence they have tried to give it a
communal colour when he has nothing to do with
this PIL except that he happened to be President
of this association. Since some women advocates
were also members this association and were not
happy with this practice in Sabarimala Temple,
and hence, these women lawyers have decided to
file this PIL through one Bhakti Pasrija -the
General Secretary of this association.
Apart
from this association, other petitioners are Dr
Lakshmi Shastri, Sudha Pal, Prerna Kumari, Alka
Sharma.
4.
That the President of this association has
neither executed the Vakalatnama nor has filed
any affidavit in support of the writ petition.
He has never given any instructions to his
advocate-on-record regarding this matter.
5.
That
on
13th
Jan.,
2016,
the
advocate-on-record namely Ravi Prakash Guta has
also received a threatening call stated to be
from Kerala. There were two more non-threatening
calls to him one was stated to be from Kerala
read
as
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and another from Delhi.
6.
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 Hon'ble
Supreme Court.
These paragraphs are basically an explanation by the President
of the Association that the Association has proceeded to file the
petition and he as a person, has no role in the same.
explanation,
unnecessary.
if
we
The
allow
ourselves
affidavit
has
to
been
say
sworn
so,
by
is
one
The said
absolutely
Ms.
Pasrija, who is the General Secretary of the Association.
public
interest
litigation
meant
for
canvassing
the
Bhakti
It is a
cause
for
gender equality, that is perception of Mr. Gupta, learned counsel
appearing for the Association.
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 in due course when
the matter is taken up for hearing by this Court.
Hearing in a
court of law is not dependent, especially in a public interest
litigation by any person.
Once the public interest litigation is
entertained by this Court taking the lis into consideration, even
if the President of the Association desires to withdraw the same,
this Court may decline to grant that permission.
That apart, as we
find, there are other petitioners.
On a perusal of the averments made in the application, we find
that a complaint has been lodged with the police which has been
brought on record as Annexure-II.
Regard being had to the gravity
of the matter, we issue notice to the Commissioner of Police of New
Delhi and require him to file the response as regards the steps
have been taken on the basis of the said first information report.
We are absolutely conscious that the FIR has been lodged at a
particular police station but we would like the Commissioner of
Police to file the response.
to
see
that
beginning.
the
attempts
We direct the Commissioner of Police
of
this
nature
are
crippled
in
the
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As far as the prayer for security is concerned, we have been
apprised that the President of the Association has been given some
security and that should continue.
The Commissioner of Police
shall take stock of the situation and see to it that no harm is
caused to the grieved person.
We will be failing in our duty if we do not mention that Mr.
Venugopal,
learned
senior
counsel
appearing
for
the
Travancore
Devaswom Board and Mr. V. Giri, learned senior counsel appearing
for the State of Kerala, submitted that such kind of threats given
to any litigant is absolutely obnoxious and the State and the Board
unhesitatingly
condemn
the
same.
Needless
to
say,
they
have
assisted us in passing the order today.
List the matter on 08.02.2016.
(Gulshan Kumar Arora)
Court Master
(H.S. Parasher)
Court Master
