Idol housed in temple to be treated as a living person: Madras High Court

Newsdesk:

Idol housed in a temple is to be treated as a living person, closure of the temple without customary pujas will amount to its imprisonment, observed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, while ordering the opening of the Sri Muthalamman, Sri Mariamman temple situated in Uthapuram village in Peraiyur taluk in Madurai district. It had remained closed for 10 year.

Justice G.R. Swaminathan observed that an idol is considered as a juristic personality in law. This is understood as enabling the idol to hold property and to sue and be sued in its name. Time has come to expand the scope of this concept. No temple can be locked and sealed on the grounds of law and order. Any temple is an abode of deity, the court observed.