A special Division Bench of the Madras High Court is slated to hear a batch of idol theft-related cases on Monday, including its direction to Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department to clarify on a report that idols safeguarded in icon centres suffered from ‘bronze cancer’.
A Division Bench of Justices R. Mahadevan and P.D. Audikesavalu took serious note of the news report and said it would not hesitate to order the closure of all icon centres, which were created to prevent theft of idols from temples, and direct the HR and CE department to return all of them to the temples concerned.
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The senior judge in the Bench said the court would not allow the precious idols to rot in the icon centres.
Advocate ‘Elephant’ G. Rajendran, who was instrumental in bringing to light many idol theft cases, told the judges that the ancient idols should ideally be kept in temples and worshipped by performing pujas instead of being dumped in the icon centres. Such dumping would corrode the idols and develop gaping holes, he said.
According to the lawyer, the idols would remain in tact only if they were kept in the sanctum sanctorums and taken care of by the priests on a daily basis. “The State cannot cite the possibility of theft as a reason to dump the idols in icon centres when it is its bounden duty to strengthen the security in all temples,” he argued.
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Prone to theft
The advocate also claimed that the possibility of stealing the idols was more in the icon centres. After hearing him, the judges wanted the HR &CE to apprise the court of the factual status of the idols so that it could pass necessary orders. The judges also agreed to take up on Monday Mr. Rajendran’s plea to provide police protection to him since he was reportedly facing threats from various corners.