Daily Analysis of 'The Hindu' - 15th January, 2020 | Additional Study Material for UPSC PDF Download

 Page 1


Theological thicket  
?9-judge Supreme Court Bench 
?Nature of religious freedom under the 
Constitution. 
?CJI: Court will not be deciding the 
petitions seeking a review of the 
verdict in the Sabarimala temple case. 
Larger questions 
1. Interplay between freedom of 
religion and other fundamental 
rights  
Page 2


Theological thicket  
?9-judge Supreme Court Bench 
?Nature of religious freedom under the 
Constitution. 
?CJI: Court will not be deciding the 
petitions seeking a review of the 
verdict in the Sabarimala temple case. 
Larger questions 
1. Interplay between freedom of 
religion and other fundamental 
rights  
Page 3


Theological thicket  
?9-judge Supreme Court Bench 
?Nature of religious freedom under the 
Constitution. 
?CJI: Court will not be deciding the 
petitions seeking a review of the 
verdict in the Sabarimala temple case. 
Larger questions 
1. Interplay between freedom of 
religion and other fundamental 
rights  
2. Extent to which courts can probe 
whether a particular practice is 
essential to that religion or not. 
 
Law on women’s entry into 
mosques/temples 
Genital mutilation among Dawoodi 
Bohras 
Entry of Parsi women who marry outside 
the community into the fire temple 
Page 4


Theological thicket  
?9-judge Supreme Court Bench 
?Nature of religious freedom under the 
Constitution. 
?CJI: Court will not be deciding the 
petitions seeking a review of the 
verdict in the Sabarimala temple case. 
Larger questions 
1. Interplay between freedom of 
religion and other fundamental 
rights  
2. Extent to which courts can probe 
whether a particular practice is 
essential to that religion or not. 
 
Law on women’s entry into 
mosques/temples 
Genital mutilation among Dawoodi 
Bohras 
Entry of Parsi women who marry outside 
the community into the fire temple 
?Prudent: set out the limits 
?Unwise: examination of every 
discriminatory practice becomes a 
fresh treatise on Articles 25 and 26 
?Simple test: whether the particular 
practice is protected by the freedom 
of religion, or can be curbed on the 
grounds of “public order, morality and 
health”. 
Page 5


Theological thicket  
?9-judge Supreme Court Bench 
?Nature of religious freedom under the 
Constitution. 
?CJI: Court will not be deciding the 
petitions seeking a review of the 
verdict in the Sabarimala temple case. 
Larger questions 
1. Interplay between freedom of 
religion and other fundamental 
rights  
2. Extent to which courts can probe 
whether a particular practice is 
essential to that religion or not. 
 
Law on women’s entry into 
mosques/temples 
Genital mutilation among Dawoodi 
Bohras 
Entry of Parsi women who marry outside 
the community into the fire temple 
?Prudent: set out the limits 
?Unwise: examination of every 
discriminatory practice becomes a 
fresh treatise on Articles 25 and 26 
?Simple test: whether the particular 
practice is protected by the freedom 
of religion, or can be curbed on the 
grounds of “public order, morality and 
health”. 
?1954 seven-judge Bench decision in 
the Shirur Mutt case: religious 
denominations had the autonomy to 
decide what religious practices were 
essential to them. 
?A reconsideration of this “essentiality 
doctrine” will be useful only if it is a 
means to rid the court of the burden of 
entering the theological thicket.