TIRUCHY: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday directed the HR&CE Department to prohibit the use of mobile phones in temples across the State to ensure the sanctity of the places of worship.

The court was disposing of a PIL filed by M Seetharaman seeking a direction to ban mobile phones inside Tiruchendur Subramaniya Swamy temple, stating that Agama rules prohibited the usage of cameras to shoot ‘deeparadhana’, ‘poojas’ and taking photos of idols inside the temple. The temple administration should not permit inside its premises, the petitioner said.

Citing Madurai Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple, Tirupati Venkateswara temple, and Guruvayur in Kerala, a division bench of Justice R Mahadevan and Justice J Sathya Narayana Prasad pointed out that many temples across the country had banned mobile phones to prevent nuisance to devotees and maintain the purity of the temples.

These temples had set up separate counters to deposit the phones before entering the premises, it added, and asked the Tiruchendur temple administration to arrange such mobile phone lockers so as to prevent devotees from using mobile phones.

The judges observed that the executive officer of the temple had submitted a report stating that steps were initiated to impose a ban on mobile phone usage by devotees and priests by setting up counters to deposit them and also appointing self-help groups to monitor the usage of mobile phones.

Considering that the executive officer has already initiated steps to prohibit the use of mobile phones, the judges directed the HR&CE Commissioner to impose a ban on the usage of mobile phones in all the temples across the State.