On Tuesday, the Madras High Court issued a directive to the Tamil Nadu HR&CE department, instructing them to place boards in all Hindu temples explicitly indicating that individuals who do not follow the Hindu faith are restricted from entering areas beyond the 'Kodimaram' (flagpole).

Additionally, the court emphasized that Hindus possess the fundamental right to freely profess and practice their religion within these sacred spaces.

Justice S. Srimathy of the Madurai Bench of the High Court delivered this judgment during the hearing of a plea filed by D. Senthilkumar. The petitioner sought directives to allow only Hindus access to the Arulmigu Palani Dhandayuthapani Swamy temple and its sub-temples. Furthermore, he requested the installation of display boards conveying this restriction at all entrances to the temples.

The entities responding to the plea were the Tamil Nadu government, represented by the Principal Secretary of the Department of Tourism, Culture, and Religious Endowments, along with the Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR&CE), and the Executive Officer of the Palani temple.

The HR&CE department administers Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu.

Upon accepting the petition, the court instructed the respondents to place boards at the entrances of the temples, near the flagpole, and at prominent locations within the shrine. These boards are to explicitly state that "non-Hindus are not allowed inside the temple after the Kodimaram."

"The respondents are directed not to allow the non-Hindus who do not believe in Hindu religion. If any Non-Hindu claims to visit particular deity in the temple, then the respondents shall obtain undertaking from the said non-Hindu that he is having faith in the deity and he would follow the customs and practices of Hindu religion and also abide by the temple customs and on such undertaking the said non-Hindu may be allowed to visit the temple," the court ruled.

Additionally, the court mandated that whenever a non-Hindu individual is granted entry based on a provided undertaking, such instances must be documented in a register to be maintained by the temple.

The High Court also referred to certain incidents of non-Hindus allegedly entering temples.

"It was also reported that in Arulmighu Brahadeeswarar Temple a group of persons belonging to other religion had treated the temple premises as picnic spot and had non vegetarian food inside the temple premises. Likewise, recently on 11.01.2024 a newspaper had reported that a group of persons belonging to the other religion had entered the Arulmighu Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, Madurai with "their sacred book" near sanctum and sanctorum and was attempting to do their prayers" there.

The judge remarked that these incidents constitute a direct interference with the fundamental rights guaranteed to Hindus under the Constitution.