The Supreme Court, which is hearing a contentious matter relating to electoral malpractices arising out of its 1995 judgement, popularly known as the ‘Hindutva verdict’, said on Tuesday it would not examine the issue of religion at this stage.
A seven-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said:
We will not go into the larger debate as to what is Hindutva or what is its meaning. We will not re-consider the 1995 judgement and also not examine Hindutva or religion at this stage. We will not go into Hindutva at this stage.
The bench also comprised Justices M B Lokur, S A Bobde, A K Goel, U U Lalit, D Y Chandrachud and L Nageshwar Rao.
The remarks were made by the bench when, at the outset of the hearing last Tuesday, some advocates sought to intervene.
Last week, social activist Teesta Setalvad had sought to intervene in the matter with an application stating that religion and politics should not be mixed and a direction be passed to de-link religion from politics.
After making the remarks, the bench resumed the hearing with senior advocate Shyam Divan continuing with his submissions.
During the hearing, the bench also observed, "the whole idea is that religion should be separated from politics." The remarks came after senior counsel B A Desai, appearing for one of the respondents, told the bench that it has to interpret section 123 (3) of the RP Act.
Shyam Divan said that one can seek vote under constitutional mandate without using his identity in the name of religion, race, caste, community or language.
"One can't say that I belong to a particular community so vote for me," he said.
Earlier, the apex court had asked whether non-contesting spiritual leaders or clerics can be held accountable for "corrupt practices" under electoral law for asking voters to vote for a particular party or candidate.