NEW DELHI: Two days after many died in the stampede at Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, partly blamed on alleged restrictions to facilitate visit of important dignitaries, SC Friday said it agreed with the PIL petitioner that there should not be any special arrangement for VVIP darshans at temples and religious places, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra. A bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar told PIL petitioner Vijay Kishor Goswami that “We agree with you that there should not be any VIP darshan facilities, but we cannot issue a direction to the states to frame a standard operating procedure in this regard under Article 32 of the Constitution.”
The petitioner said most of the famous temples, including the 12 jyotirlingas and shakti peeths, have devised a VIP darshan facility under which a devotee can pay a higher fee for a preferential expeditious darshan. In a country where religious tourism attracts nearly two-thirds of visitors, such preferential treatment for those who have money, in discrimination of poor devotees, is unwarranted and violated right to equality and right to religious freedom, the petitioner’s counsel said, and requested the court to frame a SOP for streamlining the darshans without any preference to anyone.
Though the bench refused to entertain the PIL, it said dismissal of the petition would not impede the states, who are responsible for maintaining law and order, from taking an appropriate policy decision in this regard.