By Asia Samachar | India |
The Calcutta High Court has halted attempts by a local gurdwara to use the excommunication order to resolve matrimonial-related disputes between two parties.
The court has overturned the excommunication order by the ‘Gurudwara Chhota Singh Sangat’ against a petitioner, who was excommunicated from the entire Agrahari Sikh community. The excommunication was a result of an alleged matrimonial dispute involving the petitioner’s son and his wife, reported the LawInsider.
In the case of Sardar Lalu Singh v The State of West Bengal and others (Case No: WPA 787 of 2024), the court also directed the respondent office-bearers to pay costs of Rs 1.5 lakhs.
In his judgment, Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, as reported by LiveLaw, said: “Excommunication from an entire community, not pertaining to religious persecution alone but also the social life and relations of the petitioner is such a stringent action, which touches the normal life of a person and the right to live with dignity. Petitioner [cannot] be held responsible for a dispute between his son and his daughter-in-law. Even if there is such a dispute, the same cannot castigate either of the parties to the said dispute, more so at the behest of a Gurudwara. For such innocuous reason, the extreme step of social, religious and economic excommunication unleashed on the petitioner is palpably violative of Article 21 of the Constitution.”
Excommunication is a contentious tool used by the Sikh religious authorities, especially the Amritsar-based Akal Takht, in responding to religious and Panthic matters. It usually involves an order that fellow Sikhs to stop associating with the one who is excommunicated.
The first Sikh to be excommunicated by a decree of the Akal Takhat is believed to be Professor Gurmukh Singh, founder of the Sikh Reform Movement or the Singh Sabha Leher. The 1887 excommunication in colonial Punjab was not accepted by the Sikh masses, with respected Sikhs of the time like Bhai Gurdit Singh, Gyani Ditt Singh and Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha defying the order and continued to deal and interact openly with Prof Gurmukh Singh.
In the present case, it was submitted by the petitioner that he was a member of the Agrahari Sikh Community as well as the Gurudwara Chhota Singh Sangat. Petitioner argued that due to certain matrimonial disputes between his son and daughter-in-law, the Gurudwara had passed an order excommunicating him from the entire Agrahari Sikh community, reported LiveLaw.
It was submitted that such actions had directly impinged on his right to life and right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.
It was held that the alleged matrimonial dispute was entirely within the domain of the civil court before which it may be brought, and no role in it in it could be attributed to the father of one of the spouses.
“The respondent nos. 8 and 10 would do well not to arrogate to themselves the control of the entire Agrahari Sikh Community upon themselves in every respect, thereby usurping the powers and authority of a competent civil court. Also, the Gurudwara may provide religious guidance and leadership to its members, but the reason cited for the excommunication has nothing to do with religion,” it concluded.
RELATED STORY:
The Legitimacy of Excommunication in Sikhi: The Case of Professor Gurmukh Singh (Asia Samachar, 5 July 2023)
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