A petition was filed in Supreme Court which stated that ‘Prarthana’ in central schools promote Hindutva. The petition also demanded that the ‘Prarthana’ should be banned as the schools are run by the government.
Supreme Court has sought reply from the central government on the petition challenging the constitutional status of the ‘Prarthana’ in Sanskrit and Hindi in the morning by the students of 1125 central schools of the country.
A bench comprising of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Navin Sinha during the hearing of the petition filed by Vinayak Singh issued notice to the central government and central school society and sought reply from them. The apex court has given 4 weeks’ time for the reply to the notice.
The SC asked, is the Prarthana recited in Sanskrit and Hindi in the central schools unconstitutional? The petitioner had claimed that the Prarthana recited in the Central Schools since 1964 is unconstitutional. He termed it violation of Article 25 and 28 of the Indian constitution and said it should not be permitted. He argued that instead of promoting religious beliefs and knowledge, government schools should promote scientific facts.
Supreme Court also asked the central government and central school society, whether the Prarthana promotes religious affiliation to a particular religion?