No citizen can be faulted for using a deity’s image on a product he sells in the market, said the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday.
“This country has got 33 crore gods and if a businessman worships a particular deity and wants to have that image on his nameplate or product, what is wrong with that,” said a Bench headed by Chief Justice Hl Dattu, which dismissed a PIl objecting to this trend.
The petition filed by one Sameer Singh Thakur argued that images of deities on commercial items should be barred as these products are meant for common consumption. He demanded guidelines to ensure such a practice is curbed.
The Bench sharply reacted to the petition as it felt there was no ground to entertain it. “Every citizen has the freedom to worship. A businessman may think that having the image of a particular deity will make him rich or better the sales of the product. It is a matter of faith of the people.”
The court referred to Article 25 of the Constitution and reminded the petitioner, “It is part of the freedom to worship”.
When the petitioner insisted that the name of a particular god or the image of the deity could hurt the religious sentiments of other citizens who do not believe in them, the Bench cited an example of a person naming his shop or product lakshmi or Balaji. “I may worship lakshmi or Balaji but I may also have a son or daughter by that name. How can you prevent that person from doing it,” the Bench remarked. Using the same logic, the Bench said that nobody can then be stopped from using the same name or image on any product as well.