A member of a women’s organisation has also filed a writ appeal in the Madras High Court Bench here challenging a particular dress code framed and imposed by a single judge of the High Court on devotees and all other visitors to temples under the control of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department in the State.
This is the second writ appeal on the issue as the State Government had already filed an appeal challenging the single judge’s order on several grounds, including the correctness of compelling temple goers to adhere to a uniform dress code across the State and the fact that individual temples were free to prescribe separate dress code according to their customs.
In her appeal, G. Sarika (22) of Southern Districts Women Federation, claimed that the dress code was against an individual’s right to wear a dress of his/her choice.
Also claiming that the single judge order was “highly discriminatory,” the appellant claimed that the restrictions imposed by the judge were against “fundamental rights, particularly of women and children.”
Disposing of a writ petition seeking permission for cultural programmes in view of a temple festival in Tiruchi district, Justice S. Vaidyanathan had on November 26 ordered that from January 1 onwards, men should wear “dhoti or pyjama with upper cloth or formal pants and shirts” and women “sari or half sari with blouse or churidhar with upper cloth” to temples.
The Judge also ordered that children could go in “any fully-covered dress.”
