Allahabad High Court Dismisses As Withdrawn PIL For Offering Sugarcane Juice To Kashi Vishwanath Jyotir Lingam In Varanasi

The Allahabad High Court today allowed the withdrawal of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea seeking a direction to the State government and its authorities to not interfere with Hindu devotees from offering sugarcane juice to Kashi Vishwanath Jyotir Lingam in Varanasi.

During the course of the hearing, a bench of Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker and Justice Ashutosh Srivastava also said that it was imposing a cost of Rs. 1 lakh on the petitioner, however, on the petitioner's insistence, the court said that it would reconsider the cost part. 

"How do you justify this petition under Article 226? Tell me how much cost will you pay. We will impose a cost of Rs. 1 lakh", Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker said.

However, when the petitioner's counsel said that he would be permitted to withdraw the petition and that cost may not be imposed, the Court allowed the same and said that it would consider the counsel's request to not put a cost on the petitioner.

The PIL plea was essentially moved by a firm operating in Varanasi (providing sugarcane juice to devotees) and its proprietor seeking non-interference in public's right to offer sugarcane juice to the Jyotir lingam inside the Kashi Vishwanath temple 'for the sake of good results for the public' and to get 'dhan' from 'Rudra Abhishek'.

The PIL plea further stated that the petitioner, as well as the countrymen, have a lot of Shraddha in Shankar Bhagwan and they ardently wait for the month of Sawan to pour/offer Sugarcane juice to 'Bhole Nath of Shri Kashi Vishwanath Jyotir Lingam'.

It was further stated that when on April 16, 2023, the public at large wanted to offer Sugarcane juice to the Jyotirlingam, they were stopped from doing so by the Police officials. Thereafter, the petitioners sent a letter to the Varanasi District Magistrate seeking permission in this regard, however, the matter is still pending consideration and hence, the instant PIL plea was moved by the petitioners.

The PIL plea also submitted that the sugarcane juice, after being offered to jyotirlinga, would be collected by the petitioners and the same would be used to prepare GUR item. It was also submitted that the sugar cane is purchased from the farmers of the locality for providing the juice of sugar cane to be used in worship/ Rudrabhishek of Lord Shiva, as such, by this activity, the plea added, the local farmers would also get benefitted. 

Case title - Mahadev Enterprises Firm and 2 others vs. State of UP and 5 Others [WPIL/1953/2023]

Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (AB) 285