The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has said that existing laws already deal with acts of insult to Hindu deities and religious texts, and if more stringent provisions are sought, the grievance must be raised before the central or state governments.
The bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Indrajit Shukla made the observation on Friday while disposing of a public interest litigation filed by Hindu Front for Justice. The petitioner had urged the court to direct authorities to frame stricter legal measures against alleged incidents of disrespect toward Hindu gods and religious books.
Advocate Ranjana Agnihotri, appearing for the petitioner, argued that such incidents were occurring frequently and required stronger legal intervention. She acknowledged that certain provisions exist in the law but claimed they are not sufficiently effective.
The court noted that the petition did not describe any specific incident and relied only on general examples to seek judicial directions. The bench said that the relief sought essentially required policy decisions by the government and not judicial directions in the absence of concrete facts.
The judges stated that if the petitioner believed stronger and more effective laws were necessary, the proper course would be to make a representation to the Centre and the state, outlining the concerns and proposed steps.
With this clarification, the PIL was disposed of.
