A temple priest of Subramaniaswamy Temple in Tiruchendur, Thoothukudi district, moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the State to prohibit the use of mobile phones inside the temple.
The petitioner M. Seetharaman said that the temple was an ancient temple and agama rules played a vital role in the worship and administration of the temple. The Agama rules of every Hindu temple prohibits the use of the cameras to shoot and take photos of the deeparadhanai, pujas and that of the deities.
Therefore, still cameras and video cameras are not permitted by the temple administration to be taken inside the temple premises. However, nowadays, mobile phones are used to take snaps and for video coverage. Devotees are taking snaps of idols and pujas. Temple staff face hardship as a result, he said.
The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department has taken steps to prevent the devotees from carrying mobile phones inside the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in Madurai. Separate locker rooms have been set up outside the temple premises. The same should be extended to the Subramaniaswamy Temple in Tiruchendur, he said.
The authorities, being custodian of the temple, ought to take effective measures to prohibit the use of mobile phones inside the temple, the petitioner said. A Division Bench of Justices R. Mahadevan and J. Sathya Narayana Prasad ordered notice to the authorities and asked them to look into the issue.
