New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India asserted on Tuesday that the right to manage a religious institution does not equate to a total absence of structure or the allowance of anarchy. A nine-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, clarified that functional modalities and established norms are essential for the operation of any religious site. The Bench is currently deliberating on a series of petitions concerning gender discrimination at various religious locations, a legal journey largely shaped by the earlier controversy surrounding entry restrictions at the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala. The court noted that while protection is granted to religious management, such regulation must remain within constitutional boundaries and cannot facilitate discrimination.
During the proceedings, Advocate Nizam Pasha, representing a descendant of the Chisti Nizami lineage associated with the Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Aulia dargah, argued that Sufi belief systems constitute a distinct religious denomination. He contended that managing a religious institution naturally includes the right to regulate entry. In response, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah noted that without a governing body to oversee the sequence of worship and institutional control, religious spaces would face chaos. The Justice emphasized that while institutions require management to prevent individuals from acting entirely on their own whims, these regulatory bodies must not transgress broad constitutional parameters.
This ongoing hearing follows previous judicial struggles to define the “essential religious practice” test. While a 2018 verdict famously lifted the ban on women of menstruating age entering the Sabarimala temple, the current nine-judge Bench is tasked with a broader mandate to define the scope of religious freedom across multiple faiths. The court previously admitted the extreme difficulty for a judicial forum to categorize specific practices as essential or non-essential to a faith. As arguments continue, the core focus remains on balancing the autonomy of religious denominations with the overarching mandate of constitutional equality and non-discrimination.
