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This story is from January 29, 2019

SC refers plea against Sanskrit prayers in KVs to 5-judge bench

Supreme Court to hear plea against Sanskrit and Hindi prayers in schools
There are over 1,100 KVs in India, which started as a centrally funded school chain more than 50 years ago
Key Highlights
  • A PIL has sought a stop to recital of shlokas in KVs on the ground that these shlokas derived from Hindu scriptures
  • While the shlokas in question were indeed derived from Hindu scriptures, they connoted “universal truths” and, hence, could not be categorised as religious in nature: Solicitor general
NEW DELHI: Does mandatory recital of Hindu shlokas ‘asato ma sadgamaya’ (from falsehood lead me to truth) and ‘Om saha navavatu’ (may God protect and nourish us...) in Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country violate the fundamental right to religion of minorities? Terming this question raised by a PIL to be of “seminal importance”, the Supreme Court on Monday referred it to a five-judge constitution bench.

The PIL filed by one Veenayak Shah, a resident of Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh, sought a stop to recital of shlokas in KVs on the ground that these shlokas derived from Hindu scriptures violated not only the right to religion of minority communities but also the right of atheists, agnostics, sceptics, rationalists and others who did not agree with this system of prayers.
Shah told a bench of Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran, “Immense emphasis is being laid on recitation of these shlokas by making it mandatory in the morning assemblies of students and teachers. It could impede development and growth of scientific temper in the young minds of students.”
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said while the shlokas in question were indeed derived from Hindu scriptures, they connoted “universal truths” and, hence, could not be categorised as religious in nature. “Everything which is in Sanskrit is not necessarily religious in nature. Tomorrow, someone could claim that the phrase ‘honesty is best policy’, often taught in schools, being in English should be attributed to Christianity,” he said.
However, Justice Nariman said the shloka ‘asato ma sadgamaya’ was from the Upanishads.
KV prayer info

Upon finding that the judges had made up their minds to refer the questions raised in the PIL to a larger bench, Mehta drew the judges’ attention to the SC’s emblem, which embellishes the wall behind each bench in every courtroom, which has a Sanskrit inscription, ‘yato dharma stato jaya (where there is dharma, there will be victory)’.
“That is derived from the Bhagvad Gita and Mahabharat. Does its extraction from Hindu scripture and its inscription in the emblem make the Supreme Court non-secular? These are universal truths which any person would like to emulate in life irrespective of its origin or source. The high courts’ emblem is inscribed with ‘
satyameva jayate (truth alone triumphs)’, a shloka derived from Hindu scriptures,” the SG said.
The bench told Mehta to argue these points before the constitution bench when it takes up the PIL for hearing. The bench sent the petition to the CJI for assigning its hearing to an appropriate bench.
The PIL had sought immediate discontinuance of recitation of these shlokas along with Hindu hymns in KVs alleging that these violated the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 19 (free speech) because of its mandatory nature. The PIL also said it violated Article 28 of the Constitution, which prohibits imparting of religious instructions at any government or government-aided educational institution.
The PIL also sought a direction from the apex court to KVs to endeavour promoting scientific temper and learning in students. There are over 1,100 KVs in India, which started as a centrally funded school chain more than 50 years ago.
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