Madhya Pradesh High Court stayed the construction of temples inside the premises of various police stations across the state and issued a notice to the government. A lawyer representing the petitioner in the case gave this information.
A division bench of Chief Justice SK Kait and Justice Vivek Jain also issued notices to the Director General of Police (DGP) and others on a petition challenging the construction of temples inside police station premises across Madhya Pradesh, he said. Advocate Satish Verma said that advocate Om Prakash Yadav filed the petition challenging the construction of temples inside the premises of police stations. The lawyer argued that the open space where these temples are being constructed is a public place.
SC order was cited
Satish Verma said that the petition has cited the recent order of the Supreme Court banning the construction of religious structures in public places. Thus, the ongoing construction of temples inside the police station premises in Madhya Pradesh is a violation of the Supreme Court order. The petitioner’s lawyer said that temples have already been built in some police stations in clear violation of constitutional provisions.
Satish Verma said, the petitioner has also attached with his petition the photographs in which he had said that temples have been built inside some police stations.
What was the order of the Supreme Court?
The Supreme Court had recently said that any religious structure located in a public place, be it a Dargah or a temple, will have to be removed because public interest is paramount. India is a secular country. The bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Vishwanathan said that whatever we are deciding is for all citizens, institutions, not just for any particular community. There cannot be a separate law for any particular religion.
