The Punjab and Haryana High Court has junked a plea seeking mandatory observance of Karva Chauth by women.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel also imposed a cost of ₹1,000 on the petitioner, according to The Times of India.
The petitioner, Narender Kumar Malhotra, a resident of the Panchkula district of Haryana, had argued that certain sections of women, particularly widows, are not allowed to perform the rituals of Karva Chauth.
Therefore, a law should be formed to make observance of Karva Chauth mandatory for all women, without any discrimination, the petitioner had said in his plea.
He had also sought to declare Karva Chauth as a ‘festival of good fortune for womenfolk’, ‘Maa Gaura Utsav’, or ‘Maa Parvati Utsav’.
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The bench, however, denied his plea while observing that the subject falls within the domain of the legislature. “The said subject falls within the exclusive domain of the legislature and this court, therefore, declines interference in the present matter,” the bench said, according to Times of India.
The petitioner then requested to withdraw the plea, which the court permitted with a token of ₹1,000.
The court said that money would be deposited by the petitioner towards the welfare fund for poor people at PGIMER Medical University in Chandigarh.
Karwa Chauth is observed during the Chaturthi of Krishna Paksha in the Hindu month of Kartik. On this day, married women observe a nirjala vrat (fast) from dawn to moonrise for their husband’s long lives. They don’t eat food and drink water throughout the day and only break the fast after worshipping the moon and offering Arghya.