A legal person is an entity that has rights and obligations under the law, such as the ability to own property, sue and be sued, and enter into contracts. In India, legal personhood extends beyond human beings and corporations to encompass deities, idols, temples, rivers, and animals.
God As a Juristic Person
A juristic person, also known as a juridical person, is a non-human entity that is recognized as having legal personality and the capacity to perform legal acts and to be held liable. This concept is fundamental in law and includes entities such as corporations, government agencies, and certain organisations
In Shriomani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee vs Som Nath and Ors. AIR 2000 SC 1421, the Supreme Court said: “The very words Juristic Person connote recognition of an entity to be in law a person which otherwise it is not. In other words, it is not an individual natural person but an artificially created person which is to be recognized to be in law as such.”
In 1887, the Bombay High Court held in Shankarlal Purshottam Gor vs Dakor Temple Committee, AIR 1926 Bom 179 (India) that “Hindu idol is a juridical subject and the pious idea that it embodies is given the status of a legal person.” This was reinforced in the 1921 order in Vidya Varuthi Thirtha vs Balusami Ayyar, (1922) 24 BOMLR 629 (India), where the court said, “under the Hindu law, the image of a deity… (is) a ‘juristic entity’, vested with the capacity of receiving gifts and holding property”.
Guardianship and Representation:
In the eyes of Indian law, a deity is treated as a perpetual minor, requiring the appointment of a guardian or Shebait to protect its interests. As seen in Bishwanath and Ors vs Shri Radhballabji 1967 AIR 1044, the Shebait must act in the best interests of the minor deity. If the shebait alienates the idol from its property, then a devotee will be allowed to move as friend of the deity. The deity being a minor, legal proceedings involving the deity should follow the rules laid out in rule XXXII of the CPC, 1908.
Conditions for Legal Personhood:
However It is essential to note that not all deities are considered legal persons; only after public consecration or pran pratishtha does an idol gain this status. In Yogendra Nath Naskar vs. Income-Tax Commissioner, the Supreme Court ruled: “Not all idols would qualify as ‘juristic person’ but only when they are consecrated and placed in a public place for the general public.” The complexity deepens when comparing religious spaces, as a mosque or church is not recognized as a juristic person due to their nature as places of worship rather than objects of worship.
In the Sabarimala Case (Indian Young Lawyers Association & Ors. vs The State of Kerala, [2017] 10 SCC 689), it was argued that Lord Ayyappa was a juristic person who enjoyed fundamental rights under the Constitution and allowing women of menstruating age into the temple would violate the right to privacy of the deity. However, the Court ruled that “Merely because a deity has been granted limited rights as juristic persons under statutory law does not mean that the deity necessarily has constitutional rights.”
Done By: Adithya Menon, 5th year B.A, LL.B(Hons.)
Veltech School of Law, Chennai
For Origin Law Labs
