Madras High Court upholds order permitting lighting of lamp near dargah on Madurai hill

A division bench of Justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan upheld a December 1 order of single judge Justice GR Swaminathan of the Madurai bench, which directed that a lamp be lit atop the hill as part of the Tamil Karthigai Deepam festival.The division bench held that the State and the district administration had failed to establish that the lighting of the lamp was not part of Tamil tradition.

It also rejected the state’s claim that the ritual would disturb law and order, calling the apprehension “an imaginary ghost created by the state for its own convenience.”

The court further observed that instead of treating the occasion as an opportunity to foster peace and harmony, the state had attempted to draw political mileage by pitting one community against another.