Can’t drape a cloth on any stone and claim it is a religious idol: Madras High Court

A person cannot drape a stray stone lying along the road with a cloth and claim that it is a religious idol, the Madras High Court recently said while directing district authorities to remove a stone that locals claimed was a religious idol but was blocking the entrance to a private property. .In an order passed on February 2, Justice N Anand Venkatesh said that merely because a stray stone along the roadside had been draped in green cloth, one cannot claim that such stone has assumed the stature of an idol and thus, prevent one from enjoying the rights to one’s own private property.The Court said that it was unfortunate that superstitious beliefs continued to prevail in the society and people refused to “evolve”..The Court was hearing a petition filed by one Shakthi Murugan from Chengalapattu district seeking police protection to enable him to remove a stone from near the entrance of his private property.The petitioner told the Court that the stone that was draped in green cloth was blocking the entrance to his property. However, some locals were refusing to let him remove it as they insisted it was not just a stone but a religious idol and should not be meddled with..The Court refused to accept the State’s submission that removal of such stone was in the nature of a civil dispute and must be decided by a civil court. Instead, Justice Venkatesh said that said that there was no point in taking the dispute to a civil court because no court can decide if a stone is merely a stone or an idol.“A very funny situation will arise before the civil Court wherein the seventh respondent will claim that the stone must be treated as an idol and the petitioner will state that it is merely a stone and not an idol. It will become impossible for the Court to decide whether it is a stone or it has uplifted itself into the status of an idol. Fortunately, in our country, no court exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction. It is quite unfortunate that such superstitious beliefs continue to prevail in the society and people do not seem to evolve by passage of time. No useful purpose will be served by initiating proceedings before the civil Court and in fact, it will be a waste of judicial time to ponder over such a frivolous issue,” Justice Venkatesh said..The Court agreed that Murugan must not be prevented from entering his own property..“This Court carefully went through the photographs that were placed for the consideration of the Court. It is seen that the stone has been planted right in front of the property belonging to the petitioner. By covering that stone with a green cloth, an attempt is made by someone to call it as an idol, on that ground, the petitioner is not allowed to enjoy his property and the petitioner is not able to remove the stone. For this purpose, it is not possible for the petitioner to approach the civil court,” Justice Venkatesh said..The judge directed the local district authorities and the police to act on Murugan’s complaint and get the stone removed..Advocate L Dhamodharan appeared for Murugan.Additional Public Prosecutor A Damodaran appeared for the respondent State and district authorities..[Read Order]