Archakar Gopi of Srirangam filed a petition in the Madurai branch of the High Court seeking permission to perform free “Spatika Linga Darshan” of Rameswaram Ramanatha Swamy.
The Madurai branch of the High Court has ordered the Commissioner of Police to investigate and file a report on the background of the petitioner who filed for free darshan.
Rameswaram is one of the world famous temples from Ramanatha Swamy temple. Every day thousands of devotees from different parts of the country come here to have darshan of Swami.
The most popular special puja darshan in this temple is the “Spatika Linga Darshan”.
Tens of thousands of devotees visit this temple to worship this crystal linga. In this case, the temple administration charges between 50 rupees and 200 rupees for darshan of the crystal lingam.
Due to this, the poor devotees are getting very distressed as they are not able to have darshan of the crystal linga. At Rameshwara temple, only those who have money can have darshan of the crystal lingam.
When I filed a Right to Information Act petition regarding this, the temple administration gave information that only 50 rupees is being collected. But they are collecting Rs.200.
Also they have mentioned Spatika Linga Puja daily from 5 AM to 5 30 AM. But they are having darshan of Spatika Linga till 6:00 p.m. It is against Agama rules that Puja should be completed by 5:30 PM.
Therefore, he had filed a petition seeking an order to make Spatikalinga darshan “free of charge”. The petition came up for hearing in a bench comprising Justices R. Suresh Kumar and Arul Murugan.
The judges hearing this petition want free darshan in all temples in Tamil Nadu and some people are filing similar cases. How is this possible? Hindu Religious Endowment Department is there to manage the temples. Officers are working under it. How do you file a petition in such a situation?
Do you ask the same in Tirupati temple? There is a situation where one has to wait for several days for Sami Darshan in Tirupati. So the court wants to know what is the background of the petitioners who are filing like this. The court also needs to know who is directing them.
The judges questioned who would be responsible for any untoward incident in the name of free darshan by gathering large crowds at one time.
Trichy Police Commissioner set up a special committee and who is the petitioner? What is his background? Are there any motions driving the petitioner? They ordered a full investigation and submitted a report to the court and adjourned the case.
