‘Not appreciable‘: Madras High Court slams officials over ‘obscene’ dances at famous Tamil Nadu temple

The order added that while looking at the pen-drive and photographs submitted by the petitioner, we are of the prima facie view that the respondents are very much reluctant to implement the earlier orders of this court, which conduct is not appreciable.

Findings

• Dance programs do not align with the spirituality of the Dasara festival, and are also contrary to the previous orders of this court in 2017 and 2022.
• The division bench has directed the authorities to restrain the obscene and vulgar dance and has also directed them to take appropriate action against the violators.
• After these orders, the executive officer filed his written instructions on 25 November 2025, in which he did not dispute the conduct of such dances, as found in the petitioner’s photographs and video recordings, but would only state that those objectionable dances were not performed within the temple premises.
• Not satisfied with the report submitted by the executive officer, and such a report runs counter to the monitoring committee report of October 2025.
• There cannot be any separate petition to execute the earlier orders.
• It  made clear that the petitioner may take appropriate action to redress this position if he chooses to do so.

Background

• The PIL was filed before the court seeking a writ of mandamus to compel district and police authorities to implement the previous court directives, as well as the 2017, 2018, 2022, and 2023 circular memorandam, which prohibited vulgarity and obscenity in the name of art.
• Hearing the PIL in September, 2025, the court directed the immediate formation of a monitoring committee to oversee the 2025 celebrations and ensure all cultural programs were videographed.
• In November 2025, the government pleader filed a report signed by the members of the monitoring committee.
• According to the report, there were no instances of dances or cultural programs violating the decorum and spiritual ethos of the festival.
• After this report, at the next hearing on November 11, 2025, the petitioner contested that, after various directions by the court, the temple authorities and the Police did not take any steps to stop the inappropriate dance program, which is not in consonance with the ethos of the Dasara festival.
• In support of his contention, he has produced an additional typed set of papers along the pen-drive, which contains certain video recordings of the dance programs.