A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court alleging that temples of the Tapagaccha sect, part of the Shwetambar Murtipujak sect of Jainism, are being forcibly converted to another sect.
In Short
A plea has been filed in SC over a dispute between two sub sects of Jain community regarding control of temples
The plea sought orders for enforcement of the Places of Worship Act
The Supreme Court has asked the petitioners to file a suit in the trial court
New Delhi, 29th July 2022: A dispute between two sub sects of the Jain community over the control of their temples has reached the Supreme Court. A member of the Jain Tapagaccha sect, part of the Shwetambar Murtipujak sect of Jainism, alleged that their fundamental rights are being violated and their monks are being barred from entering temples in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
The plea sought orders for enforcement of the Places of Worship Act, claiming that temples of their sects are being ‘forcibly converted’ to temples of another sect and
their monks and worshippers are being barred from entering the temple. The plea alleged that the temples were being ‘randomly and forcibly’ converted to the use of different segments of Jains.
Senior Advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for the petitioners, argued “The impact of the Places of worship Act is that if the temple belongs to one denomination of the Jains, you cannot bar other Jain denominations from entering the temple. I’m asking the state government to ensure that the temple is not converted.”
The bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and JB Pardiwala, however, remarked that this was a dispute between members of the same religion and asked the petitioners to file a suit in the trial court to decide who would have control of the temple. – Article Courtesy: Aneesha Mathur, India Today