HINDUTVA CASE: POINTS TO KNOW

1. The Supreme Court said that election is a secular exercise and thereby its way and process should be followed.

2. The Supreme Court’s ruling pertains to the electoral malpractices in the name of religion.

3. The Supreme Court clearly ruled that if a candidate was found to be seeking vote in the name of religion, it would be considered a corrupt practice under the Representation of People’s Act.

4. Seeking vote in the name of religion by the candidate will be dealt under Section 123(3) of the Representation of People’s Act, the Supreme Court ruled.

5. The Supreme Court also prohibited the use of the case, creed, language or community as a tool for seeking vote in election.

6. The seven-judge Constitution bench passed the judgement in the Hindutva case with a majority of 4-3 after hearing in detail arguments from various petitioners and respondents.

7. The Supreme Court further added that relationship between man and God is individual choice. The state is forbidden to interfere in such an activity.

8. In the last hearing, the seven-judge Constitutional bench of the court had, however, said that it would not revisit the 1995 judgment, which defined Hindutva as ‘a way of life’.

9. A bunch of PILs were filed before the Supreme Court in the wake of 1995 judgment of the apex court in the Hindutva case, which dealt with electoral malpractices.

10. Delivering the judgment in the Manohar Joshi case in 1995, Justice JS Verma had written in conclusion, “It is a fallacy and an error of law to proceed on the assumption that any reference to Hindutva or Hinduism in a speech makes it automatically a speech based on Hindu religion as opposed to other religions.”

11. “(Hindutva and Hinduism) are used in a speech to emphasise the way of life of the Indian people and the Indian cultural ethos,” the Supreme Court had said in 1995.