Everyone in the country has the right to follow their religion : Supreme Court

India is a secular country and everyone has the right to practice their religion, the Supreme Court has said, dismissing the petition seeking to declare late religious leader Sri Sri Thakur Anukul Chandra as 'God'. . Terming the petition as a 'publicity interest litigation', a bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice CT Ravikumar imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on the petitioner.

As petitioner Upendra Nath Dalai began reading out his plea, the bench said, "Listen, we have not come to listen to this lecture. Is this a public interest litigation? How can it be? Everyone has religious rights in our country. How can we say that only a particular sect should be followed?" It was hearing a petition by the Supreme Court seeking declaration of Anukul Chandra as 'divine'.

Dismissing the plea, the top court in its order said, “India is a secular country and the petitioner cannot be permitted to pray that the people of India accept Sri Sri Thakur Anukul Chandra as 'God'. This is by no means a public interest litigation and it appears to be a 'publicity interest litigation' which deserves to be dismissed with fine." Anukul Chandra was born on September 14, 1888 in Pabna which is now in Bangladesh.