Court order on Konapatti hill statue
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed officials to reinstall a Murugan statue that was removed by the government from Konapatti hill in Dindigul district.
Petition and removal without notice
A petitioner from Konapatti told the court that the hill has the Jyothimurugan temple and that worship and annadhanam were planned for the Thaipusam festival. He alleged that on January 20, revenue and police officials removed the statue without prior notice and that it is currently in official custody.
Government’s stand and collector’s order
The government argued that the statue had been installed without permission and raised concerns that the activity could lead to a law-and-order issue. During the case, the court had earlier asked the petitioner to approach the district collector for permission, following which the collector issued an order on January 29.
‘Vel’ worship cited as proof of temple presence
Justice S. Sreemathy noted that revenue records show a ‘Vel’ installed on the hill, which villagers worship, and the government also accepted that there is no bar on worshipping it. The court held that this was sufficient to indicate the presence of a Murugan shrine and found no basis to treat the installation of the Murugan statue alongside the existing ‘Vel’ as objectionable.
Religious freedom and other objections
The court rejected arguments that lack of patta on government poramboke land alone could defeat the request, observing that many temples stand on such lands. It also termed the claim about rough access and lack of safety as unacceptable, and said there was no evidence that villagers opposed the installation or that worship and festivals by themselves would create a law-and-order problem.
