Petitions seeking nod for dance in temple fests rejected

Justice PN Prakash who dismissed the pleas, observed that, “It is seen that all those orders granting permission were passed by me on different dates and at this juncture, I have no hesitation in recording not only my anguish, but also, my profound regret for having passed these orders.”

Justice Prakash on noticing a spurt in such writ petitions from Namakkal district, had directed the Namakkal SP to be present before the court to explain what really happened at the ground level. 

It was submitted that more than four or five High Court orders have been obtained by filing separate petitions by various persons on caste basis for one and same temple function in different dates and each caste group has been conducting the Adal Padal programme to show their supremacy before the villagers. 

The report also submitted that women in ‘two piece dresses’ perform obscene dance. The youth in a drunken mood also dance amidst the crowd. This would usually result in a wordy duel and end up in a caste clash, ruining the peace in the village. 

Moreover, in violation of the court order, the dance programmes transpire through the night affecting students, aged people, children and women. If the police intervened, the mob citing the court order would quarrel with the police and create a law and order situation in the villages. 

Justice Prakash, on watching one of the video clippings pertaining to such a show in Rasipuram in the presence of the prosecutors and councils for the petitioners in his chamber held that, “After watching the same, everyone had no option, but to unanimously agree that it surpassed the very definition of the words obscenity and vulgarity.” 

The judge in his order also recorded the submission of SP, Namakkal in his status report about the representation from Tamil Nadu Thiraipadda Medai Nadana Kalaignargal Sangam, Salem, seeking for a ban on such Adal Padal programmes as that had resulted in unemployment to genuine folk artists in the country side.