Hijab row: What is paramount - nation or religion, asks Madras High Court

Expressing deep concern over the growing tendency of certain forces arousing religious disharmony in the country the Madras High Court on Thursday wondered as to what is paramount nation or religionIn an observation that came in the backdrop of a raging debate over the hijab row in Karnataka the first bench of Acting Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthi bemoaned that of late certain forces have raised controversies relating to dress code and it is spreading all over IndiaIt is really shocking somebody is going for the hijab some others for the topi cap and a few others for other things Is it one country or is it divided by religion or something like that This is quite surprising the bench addedPointing out the fact that India is a secular country the ACJ said What is found from the current affairs is nothing but an effort to divide the country in the name of religionThe ACJ made the observations while hearing a batch of PIL petitions filed by Rangarajan Narasimhan of Srirangam in Tiruchirapalli districtIn his PIL filed on Thursday he prayed the court to order strict implementation of the dress code for devotees disallowing nonHindus from stepping into the temples across the state and a ban on commercial activities in the premises of the templesDisplay boards should be placed prominently at the entrance of the temples banning entry of nonHindus and prescribing dress code he saidWhen there is no particular dress code then how will the question of putting up display boards on the same arise the bench wonderedWhen the petitioner insisted for an order the bench advised him to produce the evidence for his prayer What part of the Agamas rituals refer to pants dhotis and shirts it askedIrked over the petitioners relentless posture the bench warned him of barring from appearing inperson before the court and directed him to use appropriate words and desist from quarrellingTamil Nadu Advocate General R Shanmugasundaram informed the court that each and every temple is following its own custom and visitors belonging to other religions are allowed only up to the kodi maram flag mastHe recalled that a division bench of Madras High Court had already set aside an order of a single judge prescribing a dress code as it was beyond the scope of the writ petition It had triggered widespread outrage and debate he pointed outFinally the bench allowed the petitioner to file an affidavit with illustrations relating to the dress codeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever