In a special sitting held on Saturday, the Supreme Court stayed an order of the Allahabad High Court that had directed the astrology department of Lucknow University to study a woman's kundali (horoscope or birth chart) to find out whether she is a mangalik.

The High Court had passed the order while deciding the bail plea of a person accused of raping a woman on pretext of marriage.

The rape accused had taken the defence that the marriage could not be solemnised because the woman was a mangalik.

The Supreme Court, however, said today that a court of law, when deciding a bail plea, cannot enter into the realm of astrology which are private matters of an individual.

A Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Pankaj Mithal, therefore, stayed the order and directed the High Court to decide the bail plea of the accused on merits.

"This Court takes a Suo Motu cognizance of this case which has been placed before us. The order passed by the learned Single Judge of the Allahabad High Court(Lucknow Bench) on 23rd May, 2023 while considering a bail application is the subject matter of this case. At this stage, we say nothing on the merits of the case, except that in the interest of Justice, the operation and effect of this order so far as it gives directions to the Head of the Department (Astrology Department), Lucknow University must be stayed. We make it clear that the matter will be taken up on merits of the bail application by the High Court on 26th June, 2023 which is the date already fixed in the matter," the top court ordered.

The apex court initiated the case suo motu after taking note of of the May 23 order passed by the Lucknow bench of the High Court.

Mangali or mangalik is a person born under the influence of Mars as per Hindu astrology. Such persons are said to have mangala dosha which is construed to be unfavourable for marriage.

The Lucknow bench of the High Court was considering a bail application filed by one Gobind Rai.

Since the counsel for the woman argued that she is not mangalik, single-judge Justice Brij Raj Singh ordered the woman and the applicant to submit their kundalis to the Astrology department of the Lucknow University.

The University was directed to submit a report in a sealed cover within three weeks.

At today's hearing before the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta at the outset said the High Court's direction was disturbing and should be stayed.

Advocate Ajay Kumar Singh appearing for the complainant said the order was passed after the consent of the parties.

"Nobody is questioning whether it can be decided a manglik or not and astrology is a science. But here the question is can the court order get into this," SG Mehta argued.

"We do not understand why is this astrology report called for. We stay the order and ask the High Court to decide bail plea on merits," the bench remarked.

The top court in its order sought the response of all the parties concerned in the matter, that is the bail applicant, the complainant and the State of Uttar Pradesh.

The matter will be taken up next on July 10.

"We expect to have before us the contentions/objection of all the parties before the next date of hearing", the order noted.

[Read order]

[Follow our live-coverage of the hearing]