12 December 2007

Indian judge orders Hindu gods to appear before him

Sunil Kumar Singh, a judge in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, has used newspaper ads to summon the Hindu gods Ram and Hanuman to "appear before the court personally". Earlier, he had sent them court summons through the mail, but the letters were returned. The postal authorities said that the addresses used had been "incomplete".

Singh is seeking Ram and Hanuman's testimony in a case that has remained unresolved for the past 20 years. It involves a land dispute concerning a Hindu temple dedicated to the two gods. Manmohan Pathak, the priest of the temple, says that the 1.4 acre plot the temple is located on belongs to him, as it was granted to his grandfather by a local king. On the other hand, local people assert that the temple belongs to the gods it is dedicated to. Singh wants to ask the gods their opinion on the ownership dispute.

According to Bijan Rawani, a lawyer in Dhanbad, "since the land has been donated to the gods, it is necessary to make them a party to the case" (BBC).

You can't make this stuff up! This should help the priest's case, though.

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