India News | Plea in HC to Prohibit Affixation of Images of Deities on Walls to Prevent Urination in Public

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) A PIL came up for hearing before the Delhi High Court on Friday seeking to prohibit the practice of putting up images of deities on walls to prevent people from urinating, spitting or littering in public places.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad heard the arguments on the plea and reserved its order.

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“Arguments heard. Judgement reserved,” the bench said.

The petition said the common practice of affixing photographs of deities on walls to prevent urination, spitting and throwing garbage at public places has created a serious menace in the society as these pictures do no guarantee prevention of these acts and instead people publicly urinate or spit on the sacred images.

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“This seriously denigrates and disparages the sanctity of the sacred images… Fear is used as an element to stop people from urinating or spitting and littering. These things cannot be permitted over the element of pure devotion borne out of faith and freedom to practice and profess one's religion,” petitioner and advocate Gorang Gupta said.

The plea said affixation of sacred images of deities on walls to prevent urination in public and spitting and throwing junk is violating section 295 (Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code as it hurts the religious sentiments of the general public.

The plea said the high court in an earlier case had acknowledged the menace of open public urination and, in its order, noted that religious sentiments of people were getting hurt due to the practice of affixing photographs of deities on walls.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)