Ram Temple embezzlement case concerns assets of a juristic person and minor
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Ram Temple embezzlement case raises serious allegations of misappropriation of cash and valuables donated by devotees as an “expression of piety” to a Hindu deity, uniquely considered a ‘juristic person’ who is a minor in law.Series of judicial decisions, right from the days of the Privy Council to Supreme Court’s judgments in the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple and the Ramjanmabhoomi Temple cases, hold the deity as a legal entity capable of holding property.The Padmanabhaswamy Temple case saw the Supreme Court hold that donations given by worshippers belong strictly to the deity. By detailing Maharaja Marthanda Varma’s act of dedication of his kingdom to the deity, the 2020 judgment provided an insight into the acceptance of the deity as a separate entity as far back as in the 18th century.The importance of the act of donating to a deity as an expression of Hindu piety was discussed by the Privy Council in Vidya Varuthi Thirtha Swamigal versus Balusami Ayyar and Others, a case law which dates back to 1921.“Hindu piety finds expression in gifts to idols and images consecrated and installed in temples,” the judgment said.It noted that these gifts or donations by devotees were made to the deities eo nomine (in the name of the deity itself), providing proof that a deity was indeed a juristic entity vested with the capacity of receiving gifts and holding property.The courts have, however, recognised that a dedicated property vests in the idol only in an “ideal sense”.
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