The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking a ban on coins with religious symbols embossed on them. The bench said such coins do not affect the secular fabric of the country, reported PTI.
Two Delhi residents – Nafis Qazi and Abu Sayeed – had filed the plea, asking the court to direct the Reserve Bank of India and the Finance Ministry to withdraw coins with images of Brihadeeswara Temple and Vaishno Devi on them. These coins were introduced in 2010 and 2013, respectively. “The making, marking, naming, drawing, embossing or displaying overtly any religious figure or symbol is tantamount to espousing a religion by the State,” they had said in the plea.
The court said the petitioners could not prove that these coins were affecting religious practices in the country. “It does not dent the country’s secular fabric and secularism does not bar issuance of coins to commemorate any event,” the bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said.
The court said there was “no act of favouritism and discrimination” by the government in commemorating an event, reported IANS. “Tomorrow, they may want to commemorate Muslim or Sikh events... They have the power,” the bench added.
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