Giving the verdict the court presided by S S Todankar, judicial magistrate. said if the court as per the request of the applicant declares him as casteless, then the opinion of caste, and religion that is present in the society among the individuals may be thrust on the other members of the society.
Lawyer Sreerang Khambete had made the application to declare him as religion less and allow him to live a life of a simple human being, following which the court gave its ruling after a period of more than three years. Todankar also said that after the death of the applicant there may be numerous problems in his family relating to the succession rights, their religion etc and hence he cannot give the declaration sought by him.
The judge in his order also said that the provisions of section 34 of the Specific Relief Act, which gives right for this court to make declarations does not include the declaration relating to any religion and hence the same cannot be applied here.
In addition to this the judge also dismissed the reference made by the applicant of the Israel court decision and said the ruling of other countries' court was not binding on our courts. The State of Maharashtra, collector of Thane, and Union of India are the defendants in the suit. And they were issued summons by the court way back in December 2009, asking them to file their reply. However none of the defendants appeared in the suit.
Finally the court decided to proceed with the hearing ex-parte as both the governments failed to appear and contest the case. However looking to the importance of the question involved, the court asked Khambete, to suggest names of advocates who are proficient in constitutional law who will can be appointed as friend of court -- amicus curie.
In his suit he told the court that he belonged to the Hindu religion coming under the class of Bramhins and was an advocate by profession for the last 20 years. He told the court in his application that he was fed up with the politics of religion and capitalisation of religion for self-aggrandisement. He further said that he believes that religion and caste are not God made but was creation of man.
According to the plaintiff if people live only as human being, there will be no disputes, differences and communal tension in the society.
Animals, he pointed out have no religion and caste and therefore live happily. It is the indicator of how casteless and religionless society will live peacefully. The organisation of society on communal lines is an injury to society, he said. He said that label of religion and caste was unnecessary, and unless same was removed it was impossible to live as human being.
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