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Uttarakhand HC: Upper caste priest cannot refuse religious rituals to lower caste members

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The Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday ruled that no upper caste priest can refuse to perform religious duties for the lower caste.

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“The high caste priests in Uttarakhand shall not refuse to perform religious rituals on behalf of the members belonging to lower castes in all the religious places.

“All the persons irrespective of their caste are permitted to enter any temple in state in the spirit of articles 14, 15(2), 17, 19, 21, 25, 29(2), 38, 46 and 51-A of the constitution,” ordered the division bench of justice Rajiv Sharma and justice Lok Pal Singh.

“It is made clear that any properly trained and qualified person can be appointed as Poojari irrespective of his caste in the temples,” the court further stated in its order.

The court passed the judgement while hearing a petition filed in 2016 by the Rajasthen based SC, ST petitioners, challenging state government’s decision to sanction Rs 42 lakh for constructing a new staircase at a Dharamshala in Haridwar where sant Ravi Das statue is erected.

In the petition it was mentioned that the statue belonged to the schedule caste community, but the higher caste priest refused to take alms from the lower caste. The petition also added that the the priest used to refuse to perform the ceremonies on their behalf”.

The bench also ordered that the issue of shifting the staircase from present place should be discussed among the stakeholders.

It added that since there is only one temple of lord Ravi Das near the Har-ki-Pauri, the government should take all necessary steps to beautify the temple and its surroundings within three weeks.

The judgement was pronounced on June 15, but the order to implement it was delivered on Thursday.

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