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Journalism of Courage
The Karnataka Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) recently received an unusual complaint from a man who alleged that a Bengaluru temple had refused to conduct his wedding. The CMO immediately sought an explanation, only to receive an unexpected response: the priests did not want to do the rounds of courtrooms when the marriage failed.
The Someshwara Temple in Ulsoor, which comes under the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Department of the Karnataka government, clarified its stance in a response on November 25. The authorities explained that courts often directed priests to appear before them during divorce proceedings.
“Many couples elope from home and produce fake documents to get married. After a few days, the parents of these couples turn up, and in some instances, court cases are filed,” V Govindaraju, the chief administrative officer of the temple committee, told The Indian Express.
The temple authorities clarified that, though they had conducted more than 100-150 weddings, they stopped doing so 6-7 years ago to prevent “untoward incidents” that could “affect the image of the temple” and had orally informed department officials.
Recalling an 11-year-old incident, Govindaraju said, “There was a rowdy in Vasanth Nagar who came here with a woman and got married. Two days later, we discovered that the woman was already married, and it was her second marriage without a legal divorce. Her first husband hacked the new groom to death. The priests had to go to court as marriage witnesses. In another instance, a case was filed in Hyderabad, and the priest had to attend court cases there.”
Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Department Minister Ramalinga Reddy claimed that the government had stopped such practices a while ago. “There are issues with these individual marriages, which is why the government stopped the practice long ago. We conduct mass marriages but do not allow individual marriages, for a lot of reasons, including forged documents,” he said, adding that the BJP government in 2011 had issued a circular directing an end to such practices.
“We allow mass marriages and last year we conducted them in 42 temples across the state,” Reddy further said.
However, sources in the department said that weddings are still held at some temples as they allow priests to get money, but only after proper verification and in the presence of parents. “This was never an issue. Now, after the Someshwara temple episode, a new circular may be issued by the department,” an official said.
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