HC comes to the rescue of Pampa

K.C. Gopakumar KOCHI,
 The Hindu, October 17, 2015

Concerned at the aggravation of the pollution of the Pampa, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday ordered that throwing of clothes and other belongings into the river by the Sabarimala pilgrims be considered an offence under the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.

It directed that those acting to the contrary should be proceeded against under the provisions of the Act.

The Bench comprising Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice Anu Sivaraman, while dealing with a case relating to the affairs of the Sabarimala temple, observed that abundant materials before the court and various reports of the State Pollution Control Board and other agencies categorically showed beyond the shadow of doubt that the river was being constantly polluted.

Discarding of huge quantities of clothes and other belongings had aggravated pollution of the river.

The court pointed out that there was absolutely no practice or religious tenets which advised a person, after having darshan at the temple, to discard the clothes and other belongings which he worn into the river. Therefore, no such practice could be permitted under “the camouflage” of freedom of practice of religion under Article 25 of the Constitution.

The court said Section 24 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act prohibited dumping of materials into a stream or a river which impeded the flow of its waters.

The discarding of clothes or any material or other personal belongings — biodegradable or not — into the waters of the Pampa by any person amounted to violation of Section 24 and the person doing it could be proceeded against. The section prescribed a prison term of a year-and-a-half.

Those who advised pilgrims to discard clothes into the river could be proceeded against for the offence of abetment under Section 109 of the IPC.