In a powerful rebuke, the Karnataka High Court tore into a temple committee’s claim that slum dwellers living near a temple somehow “taint” its sanctity. Justice M Nagaprasanna made it clear: the divine is not so fragile that it collapses in the presence of the poor.
“The sanctity of a temple is not endangered by the creator’s children who, by accident of circumstance, live modestly beside it,” the Court declared. “To deny them dignity is to deny the very universality our Constitution professes. India cannot endure as a first-order nation while consigning some citizens to second-class existence.”
The Court said it was “deeply wounded” by the committee’s argument, branding it “appalling” and rooted in prejudice and exclusion. “To proclaim that slum dwellers are lesser beings, bereft of the right to devotion or shelter, is a mindset steeped in caste, class, and creed divisions,” the order noted.
The ruling came while dismissing two challenges brought by devotees and the Kalikamba Seva Samithi of Mandya. They had opposed the government’s move to declare land near the temple as a slum under the Karnataka Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act, 1973—part of a rehabilitation plan to build new homes for residents.
The Court reminded petitioners that they had no ownership of the land, no standing under the Act, and, crucially, no right to obstruct a rehabilitation program. It also pointed out that the temple committee itself had accepted a settlement in 2013 to end an earlier eviction case, only to attempt a reversal eight years later.
“Once a compromise is recorded and acted upon, it binds its signatories with the full force of law. The volte-face attempted cannot be countenanced,” Justice Nagaprasanna said, dismissing the review petition outright.
The judgment clears the way for authorities to move swiftly with the slum redevelopment project.