“If even after 75 years of Independence, we cannot celebrate B.R. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary simultaneously with a temple festival in a village, what will people think about our country?” asked Madras High Court Acting Chief Justice T. Raja on April 13, 2023 while dismissing a case apprehending law and order problem if both events were held together.
The first Division Bench comprising himself and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy dismissed a public interest litigation petition which sought a direction to the revenue authorities to issue prohibitory orders preventing the gathering of people either for the temple festival or the birth anniversary celebrations at Pattavarthi village in Nagapattinam district.
K. Sivaprakasam, 77, a local resident working as a rural drama artist, had filed the PIL petition stating there was a clash between Caste Hindus and the Scheduled Caste people in Pattavarthi when the latter had organised an event to pay respects to Ambedkar’s portrait at a local bus stand on December 6, 2021. Police intervened and controlled the caste clash.
Thereafter, on April 14, 2022, the Caste Hindus had decided to celebrate Chithirai festival at the Kathayi Amman temple in the village. On the same day, the Scheduled Caste people too had planned to celebrate Ambedkar’s birth anniversary. To avoid untoward incidents, the Revenue Divisional Officer conducted peace talks with both the groups.
Stating that the talks failed, the petitioner said, it forced the RDO to impose prohibitory orders preventing public gathering of more than two people from 6 am on April 13, 2022 to 11:59 pm on April 17, 2022. The petitioner wanted a similar prohibitory order to be imposed this year to avoid possible clashes between the two caste groups.
Not finding any reason to entertain such a PIL petition, the ACJ wondered why a temple festival and the birth anniversary celebrations of the father of the Constitution could not be allowed to take place simultaneously in a village. He said, it was for the police to ensure both events take place peacefully.
