New Delhi: Supreme Court judge Justice Abhay S. Oka suggested that pooja archana (Hindu religious rituals) should be stopped in court-related events and secularism should be promoted instead by bowing down to a copy of the Preamble to the Constitution before commencement of programmes, Bar and Bench reported.“Sometimes judges have to say unpleasant things. I am going to say something a little unpleasant. I think we must stop pooja-archana during programmes in courts. Instead, we should keep an image of the Preamble of the Constitution and bow down to it to commence a programme,” Justice Oka said, while speaking at a foundation laying event of a new court building at Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune on March 3.Further, Justice Oka pointed out that the new practice should be started as the Constitution completes 75 years and underlined that the words ‘secular’ and ‘democratic’ in the Preamble are very important for him, as per the report.“When the Constitution completes 75 years, to maintain its dignity, we should start this new practice,” he noted. “Dr. Ambedkar has given us an ideal Constitution in which secularism finds a mention. Our court system may have been created by the British but it is run by our Constitution. The courts are given by the Constitution.”Underlining the efforts he had made during his tenure as a Chief Justice of Karnataka high court, Justice Oka said, “When I was in Karnataka, I tried many times to reduce such religious programmes but I was unable to stop them completely. But completion of 75 years is the best occasion for us to advance secularism.”
