It may not be atheists’ time yet. At least not in a court of law, as the Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed a Pune couple’s PIL that those who don’t believe in religious texts, be permitted to take an oath on the Constitution instead. According to the bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Girish Kulkarni presiding over Sunil and LaxmikantaMane’s petition, it was up to the lawmakers to decide on that, adding that those who did not believe in God already had the option of filing a Solemn Declaration.

Point of the plea
In the petition, the couple had argued for this liberty in the lower courts for atheists, citing several cases in the state where senior officials had not permitted atheists to bypass the swearing in on a religious book.