CJI Mocks Hindu Sentiments: Supreme Court’s Arrogance on Display
The Supreme Court of India has once again shown where it stands when it comes to Hindu faith — at the bottom of the courtroom joke book. Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, while hearing a plea regarding the restoration of a beheaded idol of Lord Vishnu at Khajuraho’s historic Javari temple, thought it fit to dismiss the matter not with reasoned restraint, but with sarcasm. His words to the petitioner were not the language of justice but of mockery: “Go and ask the deity itself to do something now. You say you are a staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu. So go and pray now.”
This is not judicial wit; it is arrogance. At stake was not just a petitioner’s grievance but the sentiments of millions who hold Vishnu as sacred. The plea was about a centuries-old idol, desecrated during Mughal invasions, still lying mutilated. Instead of dignity, the Chief Justice offered derision. Would the Court have displayed the same dismissive contempt if the case involved another community’s religious figure? Or is sarcasm reserved only when it comes to Hindu deities and Hindu heritage?
The official line was that this is a matter for the Archaeological Survey of India. Fine. But when did judicial responsibility also grant a license for ridicule? Judges are supposed to set the tone of respect in the courtroom. Instead, the CJI reduced the entire proceeding to a one-liner that stung more than it settled. To say “go pray to the deity” was not just a rejection of jurisdiction, it was a public insult.
The pattern is familiar. Hindu issues are treated as archaeology, heritage, or at best, matters of bureaucracy. But in cases involving other religions, the same judiciary often finds urgent constitutional grounds to intervene, bend, or invent doctrines. This selective seriousness exposes a double standard. When it comes to Hindu faith, the Supreme Court is quick to remind devotees that faith has no place in law — but then has no problem bending over backwards for others in the name of sensitivity.
What the CJI said is more than just words. It is symbolic of a judiciary that has grown arrogant, disconnected, and dismissive of the very culture it claims to protect under Article 25. If judges want to say “go to ASI,” say it. But to add sarcasm was to rub salt into an already festering wound — the long history of Hindu temples being desecrated, mutilated, and neglected, now laughed at in the highest court of the land.
Justice requires dignity, not derision. By mocking a petitioner and indirectly mocking Lord Vishnu, the CJI didn’t just dismiss a plea; he mocked faith itself. And when faith becomes a punchline in the courtroom, justice loses its sanctity.
