Former Supreme Court judge Indu Malhotra waded into controversy when a video emerged on social media in which she is seen claiming communist governments “all over” have strived to acquire control of Hindu temples.
In the video that appears to have been shot outside the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in the capital city, Ms. Malhotra can be seen telling a group of people: “.... That is what happens with these communist governments. They want to just take over because of the revenue. Their problem is the revenue. All over they have taken over. All over. Only Hindu temples. So Justice Lalit and I said, no, we will not allow it (sic).”
The former jurist has been on a visit to the State to attend various events, including a medical convention organised in connection with the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital on Sunday.
Legal battle
A Division Bench of the Supreme Court that comprised Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit and Ms. Malhotra had in 2020 upheld the rights of the erstwhile Travancore royal family to administer the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple. It had then marked a nine-year legal battle over whether the family or the State government had the right to manage the temple after the death of Travancore ruler Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma in July 1991.
Ms. Malhotra was also part of a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court that in September 2018 had quashed the rule that barred women aged 10-50 from entering and worshipping at the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala.
Being the sole dissenting judge, Ms. Malhotra had stated it was not for courts to determine which religious practices are to be struck down except in issues of social evil like ‘Sati’. Notions of rationality cannot be invoked in matters of religion, she had said.
