JANAMMA Vs. JOSEPH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appeal arises out of a representative suit under s. 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure by the respondents against two defendants, the appellant being the first defendant. THE respondents claimed that the prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha (P. R. D. S.) founded by Poikayil Yohannan, the husband of the appellant, was a Christian sect following the tenets of christianity; that the respondents were members of the Sabha; that the appellant and the other defendant were originally members thereof, but ceased to be members of the Sabha in 1125 since they converted to Hinduism; that the appellant and the other defendant were not entitled to continue as office bearers of the Sabha; that they must be removed therefrom and that a scheme should be framed for the management of the properties belonging to the Sabha. THE appellant alone contested. She claimed that she was the President of the sabha and the other defendant was its Secretary till recently; that they were both members of the Sabha; that the Sabha was not a Christian sect; that the assets of the Sabha were acquired by Poikayil Yohannan and after his death by herself; that after the death of her husband she was managing the affairs of the sabha; that Simon Yohannan, the father of the second respondent, was never its President; that the suit was brought at the instance of Simon Yohannan after he failed in earlier criminal and civil litigations against her; and that the members of the Sabha did not believe in baptism, had no churches or clergy and believed that Poikayil Yohannan was an incarnation (avathar) of God.

(2.) THE main issues considered by the lower court were whether P. R. D. S. was a Christian sect; whether the respondents were members thereof; whether the appellant and the other defendant embraced Hinduism; whether for that reason there was breach of trust; and whether a scheme should be framed for the management of the properties of the Sabha. THE lower court answered all these questions in favour of the respondents, and hence the appeal by the first defendant.

(3.) AS already stated, the members of P. R. D. S. were christian converts from the several depressed and socially disabled Hindu castes subjected to several social disabilities like untouchability and considerable segregation, from which they did not get any appreciable relief even after their conversion. They were not allowed to marry from the other sections of Christians: in fact, the depressed class converts were treated as a separate section, an inferior section, among Christians. It was under those circumstances that Poikayil Yohannan started P. R. D. S. The District Judge notes in Para. 19 of his judgment that the reference as Christian in the address of the founder and the members of the Sabha in several of those documents is, to some extent, merely a matter of description and does not amount to an admission regarding the faith they were professing. But, he says that the averments in ex. AM, a written statement filed by Yohannan Yohannan, Ex. G, a mortgage deed executed by Yohannan Yohannan and others, Ex. Y, the nomination paper filed by the appellant, etc. , do amount to and constitute an admission of faith. I do not think that the District Judge is right in this conclusion, for, the faith of P. R. D. S. has to be decided by the tenets preached by its founder and believed by his followers and not by the mere description of them as christians, as the question to be answered is whether P. R. D. S. was Christian in faith.