‘Not every stone on the roadside can become an idol’: Madras HC on ‘Superstition still prevalent in society’

The Madras High Court recently ordered the removal of a stone from the entrance of a private house after someone tried to treat it as an idol of worship.

A bench of Justice N Anand Venkatesh, while giving directions in the matter, expressed regret over the “superstitious beliefs” still prevalent in the country. The judge said: “It is extremely unfortunate that such superstitious beliefs continue to prevail in society and people do not appear to have evolved over time.”

The court was dealing with a writ petition filed by a man named E Shakthi Murugan, who said the stone was placed in front of his property and when he tried to remove it, he faced resistance. He believes the stone was wrapped in green cloth and people began to regard it as an idol. He also recorded some photos of the stone.

Murugan further said that although he had complained to the police, he was not given protection that would have allowed him to remove the stone. In this case, he said, he had no recourse to the civil courts.

Taking note of the submissions and documents on record, the high court said a “very interesting situation” would arise if the landlord was forced to go to a civil court to ascertain that the object was just a stone or an idol.

“There is no use in filing a case before the civil courts and in fact it is a waste of judicial time to ponder such a frivolous issue,” the bench said.

Therefore, the HC directed the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Pallavaram Range, Chengalpattu district, to remove the stone from the entrance of the petitioner’s property. The court allowed one week to comply with the directions.