‘Dham’ tag for Digha Jagannath Temple challenged, Calcutta HC admits petition

A fresh legal battle has erupted over the use of the term ‘Dham’ for the newly inaugurated Jagannath temple in West Bengal’s Digha, with the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Calcutta High Court.

The division bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Smita Das admitted the plea on Wednesday, and a hearing is expected later this week.

Religious Sentiment at the Heart of Dispute

The VHP’s petition centres on the religious significance historically associated with the word ‘Dham’, which in Hindu tradition refers exclusively to the four sacred pilgrimage sites of Badrinath, Rameswaram, Dwarka, and Puri.

The VHP contends that granting the same nomenclature to the Digha temple amounts to religious misrepresentation and could dilute the sanctity of the original char dhams, particularly the centuries-old and holy Shree Jagannath Dham at Puri.

In its submission, the VHP has also flagged concerns over religious purity. It alleged that a portion of the ‘Prasad’ distributed at the Digha shrine was prepared in sweet shops owned by non-Hindus, which the group claims has offended Hindu sentiments.

Funding, Governance Under Legal Scrutiny

The latest litigation follows an earlier PIL filed in May by advocate Koustav Bagchi, which questioned the legal and financial framework underpinning the Digha temple project.

Notably, that petition challenged the use of public funds for a religious complex in a secular democracy, alleging that what was initially described in tenders as a Sanskriti Kendra had morphed into a fully functioning temple.