SC refuses to review Hindutva a ‘way of life’ verdict of 1995

new delhi — 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, on Tuesday said it would not examine the issue of religion at this stage.

“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,” a seven-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said.

“At this stage, we will confine ourselves to the issue raised before us in the reference. In the reference, there is no mention of the word ‘Hindutva’. If anybody will show that there is a reference to the word ‘Hindutva’, we will hear him. We will not go into Hindutva at this stage,” the bench, which also comprised Justices M B Lokur, S A Bobde, A K Goel, U.U. Lalit, D Y Chandrachud and L Nageshwar Rao, said. The remarks were made by the bench when, at the outset of the hearing, some advocates sought to intervene in the ongoing hearing.

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.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Human Resource Development panel has claimed that Teesta Setalvad and her Sabrang trust tried to “mix religion with politics” and spread disharmony while creating curricular material for the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance government which had given a grant of about Rs14 million. The committee’s finding that a prima facie case exists against her for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion etc and imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration, has found favour with a top law officer. PTI