UPSC Articles
Religious practices of various faiths
Part of: GS Prelims and GS Mains II – Secularism
In news:
- Whether certain essential religious practices of various faiths, including Islam and Zoroastrianism, should be constitutionally protected?
In past: Women devotees of menstruating age were not permitted to worship here, out of respect to the celibate nature of the deity in this temple.
1991 : A Kerala high-court judgement had legalized this Ban , and forbade women from entering the temple
In 2018 : The Constitution bench of the Supreme Court held that any exception placed on women because of biological differences violates the Constitution – that the ban violates the right to equality under Article 14, and freedom of religion under Article 25
From Prelims Point of View:
Article 14 :
- State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.
- Article 14 of our constitution provides that no one is above the law of the land.
- Rule of the Law derived from Article 14 of the constitution.
- The article 14 aims to establish the “Equality of Status and Opportunity” as embodied in the Preamble of the Constitution.
Article 25 :
- No discrimination against anyone on grounds of faith,
- Separation of religion from politics,
- Acceptance of religion as purely and strictly private affairs of individuals having nothing to do with the State.