Gupta plea to be heard

A Supreme Court bench of Justices H. L. Dattu and Chandramauli Kumar Prasad on November 23 has issued a notice asking the Valsad Parsi Anjuman (VPA) to file a response within four weeks and the petitioner Goolrookh Gupta, to file a rejoinder within two weeks thereafter. "This means the Court will hear the parties,” noted Shiraz Patodia a solicitor and Gupta’s sister. "Please note that in the Supreme Court at least 80 percent of the matters get dismissed,” she clarified.
The case pertains to a bar on Parsi women married to non-Parsis entering the Valsad fire temple and Doongerwadi bunglis. Two justices of a three-member bench of the Gujarat High Court had ruled earlier this year that for interfaith marriages registered under the Special Marriage Act (SMA), 1954, a woman was deemed to have taken on her husband’s religion. Hence Gupta could not be eligible to enter the Zoroastrian religious precincts as she would be considered a Hindu. A third judge stated she had the right to enter but that a writ petition is not sustainable against a non-government body. The VPA is a registered charitable trust.