Madras HC upholds order allowing lighting of lamp on ‘Deepathoon’
The Madras High Court’s Madurai Division Bench on Tuesday upheld a single judge’s order allowing lighting of a lamp atop the Thiruparankundram Hills in Madurai, allowing the ritual to proceed while dismissing the state government’s objections.
A division bench of Justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan upheld a December 1 order of single judge Justice GR Swaminathan of the Madurai bench, which directed that a lamp be lit atop the hill as part of the Tamil Karthigai Deepam festival.
The division bench held that the State and the district administration had failed to establish that the lighting of the lamp was not part of Tamil tradition.
It also rejected the state’s claim that the ritual would disturb law and order, calling the apprehension “an imaginary ghost created by the state for its own convenience.”
The court further observed that instead of treating the occasion as an opportunity to foster peace and harmony, the state had attempted to draw political mileage by pitting one community against another.
“It is ridiculous and hard to believe the fear of the mighty State that by allowing representatives of devasthanam to light a lamp at the stone pillar on a particular day in a year will cause disturbance to public peace. Of course, it may happen only if such a disturbance is sponsored by the State itself. We pray that no State should stoop to that level to achieve their political agenda,” the High Court said.