Overview
- An HC division bench dismissed the state’s intra-court appeal, calling it filed with an ulterior motive, and left intact the single judge’s measures including CISF assistance.
- Despite court directions, officials lit the festival lamp at the Uchi Pillaiyar/Deepa Mandapam while the Deepathoon remained unlit on Karthigai Deepam day.
- The district administration imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS (Section 144 CrPC), and police blocked access to the hill citing law-and-order concerns.
- Protests by Hindu outfits led to detentions and scuffles, with injuries reported among police personnel as crowds tried to breach barricades.
- The state’s Collector and Police Commissioner have petitioned the Supreme Court to set aside the HC orders, extending the legal battle over the contested pillar located near the dargah and claimed by the temple based on early 20th-century rulings.