The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the stand of the Centre and city government on a PIL seeking a direction to the authorities to use the “proper meaning” of the term “religion” and not use it as a synonym of “dharma” in the official documents.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma granted time to the governments for responding to the petition by lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. The petition also sought a direction to include a chapter on “dharma” & “religion” in the syllabus of primary and secondary schools “in order to educate the masses and control the religion-based hatred and hate speeches”.
“There is a colonial mindset which is being continued,” stated the petitioner before the bench, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela. In his petition, the petitioner asserted that “dharma” is not religion as the former is “non-divisive”, “non-exclusive” and “transcends narrow boundaries of religion”.
“If we try to define religion then we can say that religion is a tradition, not dharma. Religion is a cult or a spiritual lineage that is called a ‘sampradaya’ (community). So, religion means community,” the plea said as it prayed that “dharma” shouldn’t be used as synonym of “religion” in documents like birth certificate, aadhaar card, school certificate, ration card, driving licence, domicile certificate, death certificate and bank account etc.
The petition submitted, “In daily life, we say this person follows ‘Vaishnav dharma’ or Jain dharma, or someone follows Buddhism or Islam or Christianity that’s not right.
