SC stays Allahabad HC order to verify if rape victim was manglik: What is this superstition, why was it invoked in the case

The woman had claimed that a man raped her on promise of marriage, and later refused to marry her because she was manglik. The HC, while hearing the man’s bail plea, had on May 23 given directions to the Head of the Department (Astrology), Lucknow University, to verify the manglik claim.

However, the SC took suo motu notice of the matter, and a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Pankaj Mithal asked the HC to decide the matter on its own merits.

What was the manglik status a factor in the case?

The counsel for the victim told the court that it was argued that the marriage cannot be solemnised since the woman is manglik, which, some believe is unfavourable for marriages. “That’s why the court ordered. It was the issue before the court,” the counsel said. “Half-part of the ceremony was done. After that, they backed out on the question of manglik. This was argued,” he said.

How is it determined that a person is ‘manglik‘?

Professor Vinod Kumar Sharma, of the astrology department of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University, New Delhi, told The Indian Express that a person is considered manglik on the basis of the position the planet Mars occupies in their kundali, or horoscope. In astrology, a horoscope is a chart that shows the positions the sun, moon, and various planets occupied at the time of a person’s birth. These are believed to influence a person’s character and direction of life.

“Mangal, or Mars, is the planet of bravery and passion. So having a dominant Mars is not necessarily a bad thing. The overall effect depends on the alignment of other planets, with their own competing influences and characteristics. A kundali has 12 houses. Having Mars in the first, fourth, seventh, eighth, or 12th house gives it a potent influence. Because Mars is the planet of aggression, a person with its dominant effect can have disharmony and conflict in their lives, along with other ill-effects. In some cases, the effects can be malign enough to cause the death of your spouse,” he said.

Because manglik people are feared to bring bad luck to their spouse, astrologers often advise them to marry fellow mangliks, or conduct a ‘mock marriage’ to a tree or an inanimate object, so any future ‘misfortune’ is visited on that ‘spouse’. Professor Sharma said this was done for both genders. “While women marry a clay pot, or trees considered male like Peepal, men marry trees considered female, like Ber or Basuti.”

What did the SC say in this case?

In the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the HC order was “disturbing” and urged the court to stay it.

He told the bench: “Astrology is a science. Whether a person should decide based on manglik or not in marriage, nobody is questioning. The only question is while entertaining an application by a judicial forum, can this be a consideration?”

The counsel appearing for the complainant woman informed the bench that the HC order “happened by consent of both parties, and the court directed for expert evidence under Section 45 of Evidence Act”. He also pointed out that universities are now granting degrees on the subject of Astrology, and that it is a science.

Justice Dhulia, however, said, “We do not want to join issues with you on this fact as to what is the relevance of these aspects, what astronomy has to do, what astrology has to do, nothing. We have nothing on that. We respect your feelings as far as that aspect is concerned. We are only concerned with this subject matter linking to that issue”.