'Jyothi row cannot be settled legally'
Kollam: Amid controversy whether the `Makarajyothi' light visible from the Sabarimala shrine is a celestial phenomena or man-made, Union Minister Vayalar Ravi has said the issue cannot be settled legally as it involves the faith of a large number of people.
People would continue to throng in large numbers the Sabarimala temple every year despite the controversy, he told reporters here last evening. In the backdrop of the stampede on January 14 that left 102 Sabarimala devotees dead, the Kerala High Court had asked the board managing the shrine whether or not the ‘Makarajyothi' is a man-made phenomenon.
The beacon that fleetingly appears at dusk on January 14 marks the climax of the two-month ‘Makaravilakku' season from mid-November at Sabarimala. The light flickers across the skies above Ponnambalamedu, east of Sabarimala shrine, during the ‘Makarasamkramam' pooja ritual.
On certain observations regarding religious faith in the Supreme Court judgement in the Graham Staines case, the senior Congress leader said faith in a particular religion should not necessarily be a criterion for courts while making observations on religion and beliefs.
The reported observations in the apex court judgement that religious faith was the reason for the accused to commit the crime was `painful', he said.
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