M A I N   N E W S

Guru Granth Sahib a ‘juristic person’

NEW DELHI, April 2 (UNI) — In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court has held that “Guru Granth Sahib”, the sacred book of the Sikhs, is a ‘’juristic person’’ and it can, therefore, hold and use the properties given to it in charity by its followers out of love.

“The holy book, when placed in a gurdwara, can be equated to an ‘idol of the Hindus’, as idol worship is contrary to Sikhism”, the court observed.

The court further observed:”As a concept or a visionary for obeisance, the two religions are different. Yet, for its legal recognition as a juristic person, the followers of all the religions give them respectively the same reverential value. Thus Granth Sahib has all the qualities of being recognised as such. Holding otherwise would mean giving too restrictive a meaning of a ‘juristic person’ and that would erase the very jurisprudence that gave birth to it.”

The ruling is of far-reaching consequences, as it vests properties attached to the gurdwaras in the holy book.

The verdict was handed down by a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice M.R. Rao and Mr Justice A.P. Misra while allowing an appeal by the SGPC, Amritsar.

The appeal was directed against two judgements of the Punjab and Haryana High Court holding that “Guru Granth Sahib” was not a “juristic person”.

“The very words ‘juristic person’ can note 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 a notificially created person which is to be recognised to be in law as such” the court observed.

The dispute in the case concerned the land and building attached to the Gurdwara Sahib Dharamshala at Bilaspur village in Patiala district.

Mr Som Nath Dass and others (respondents) claimed that the properties attached to the gurdwara as their ancestral properties, which was contested by the SGPC. The plea of the SGPC was rejected by the High Court by the impugned judgement.

The apex court, in its judgement, noted that the last Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, expressed in no uncertain terms that henceforth there would not be any living Guru. “Guru Granth Sahib would be the vibrating Guru. He declared that “henceforth it would be your Guru from which you will get all your guidance and answer.” It is with this faith that it is worshipped like a living Guru.

Three killed in road accident
From Our Correspondent

DERA BASSI, April 2 — Three persons, including two students of Kurukshetra University, were killed and four received injuries in a collision involving a Tata Sumo, a truck and a bus near the Bhankharpur level crossing on the Chandigarh-Ambala highway around 3.45 am here today.

According to sources, the Sumo (HR-23A-3783) and the truck (DL-1G-4452) collided head-on while a Himachal Pradesh State Transport Corporation’s bus (HP-3961) rammed into the truck from behind. The bus was on its way from Dharamsala to Delhi.

Those who died on the spot included Mr Balkar Singh of Abitpur, Mr Praveen Kumar of Dinger Majra in Karnal and Mr Arvind Kumar of Sakra in Kaithal.

Mr Dalel Singh, Mr Om Dutt, both of Dinger Majra were admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh, with serious injuries while Mr Charanjit Singh and Mr Sunil Kumar, who sustained minor injuries, were given first aid at the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi.

The condition of Mr Dalel Singh is said to be critical. According to Mr Sunil Kumar, a victim, the Sumo was damaged.

“After regaining consciousness, I along with Charanjit Singh, stopped passers-by and local residents and managed to extricate the dead bodies from the Sumo. Then the police was informed,” said Mr Sunil, a resident of Lalen.

Among the deceased Mr Balkar Singh was a manager of Arora Dharmshala in Karnal and Mr Praveen Kumar and Mr Arvind Kumar were students of Kurukshetra University. While Mr Charanjit Singh and Sunil Kumar, who sustained minor injuries, are students of BA-II and BA- I, respectively.

Traffic on the highway also remain disrupted for a few hours.The drivers of both vehicles have absconded.

A case under Sections 304-A, 279 and 337 of the IPC, have been registered and the bodies have been sent to the Civil Hospital, Rajpura, for a post-mortem examination.

10 killed as bus falls into nullah
From Our Correspondent

JAMMU, April 2 — At least 10 persons were killed and 46 were wounded when a Doda bound bus fell into a Nullah near Jhajjar Kotli, 20 km from here today.

Reports said two women and one child were among those killed in the accident. The passenger bus, (No JKU 4571) was on way to Udhampur from Jammu and had 56 passengers at the time of the accident.

The police and local people carried out rescue operations and the injured were taken to a hospital in Jammu. Six persons died on the spot while four others succumbed to their injuries later. The police has confirmed the death of nine persons in the accident.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the driver of the bus lost control while negotiating a sharp curve.