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The Madras High Court has pulled up a lower court for ordering the authorities of a temple in Tirupur district to produce the 'Moolavar' (presiding deity) idol, which had been stolen, traced and installed at the shrine after following the rituals and 'Agama' rules, for verification.

The High Court bench of Justice R. Suresh Kumar allowed the petition and observed that:

"The idol, according to the belief of the devotees, is the God. The God cannot be summoned by the Court to be produced for a mere inspection or verification purposes, as if that it is a material object of a criminal case."

Factual Matrix:

The idol in the ancient temple of Arulmighu Paramasivan Swamy Thirukkoil, Siviyarpalayam, Kangeyam Taluk, Tiruppur District was stolen. Subsequently, that was retrieved by the Police and thereafter it was produced before the concerned Court ie., the Special Court for dealing with Idol Theft cases located at Kumbakonam. The idol has been handed over to the temple authorities and it has been re-installed.

The subsequent Judicial Officer dealing with the Idol Theft cases at Kumbakonam issued a direction to produce the idol ie., the Moolavar itself for inspection and to complete the enquiry before the Court.

This led to a large scale objection from the devotees as well as the village people
 

Observations by Court:

The Court observed that if at all the Magistrate wants to verify whether the idol is in good condition and it is being protected in the temple concerned with performing the Poojas etc., "only for the limited satisfaction of the Magistrate," he can appoint an Advocate Commissioner, who can visit the temple along with the Executive Officer and also the temple authorities with some representatives of the village people or devotees, and after having visited the temple, the Advocate Commissioner can prepare a detailed report and submit the same to the concerned Court, based on which the further proceedings with regard to the conducting of the trial or progression of the case can be undertaken by the Magistrate.

"Therefore, this Court is of the firm view that, the aforesaid measure would serve the purpose of the compliance of the order of the learned Magistrate, without disturbing or wounding the feelings of large number of devotees of the God concerned. Therefore, the aforesaid measure shall be undertaken by the learned Magistrate and the idol ie., the Moolavar need not be removed for the said purpose," the Court concluded.

The matter has been posted for four weeks after submission of counter.

Case Title: S.P.Eswaramurthy Versus The Government of Tamil Nadu