MADAN GOPAL Vs. RAJA PRATAP SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE are connected applications arising out of a suit under sec. 92 C.P.C. instituted by Madan Gopal Kabra and Lakashmi Narain Kabra against Raja Pratap Singh and Goverdhanlal Kabra in respect of three temples situated at Kucharnan.

(2.) IT was not disputed before me that all these three temples were founded by the ancestors of Raja Pratap Singh. The oldest of these temples is that of Natwar Lal Ji which was founded in Smt. 1756. This temple is situated inside the kot, that is, the wall enclosure containing the places of the Thakur of Kucharnan. IT may be mentioned here that defendant No. 1 is a direct descendant of the Thakurs of Kucharnan.

(3.) IN Deoki Nandan's case (2) there was evidence to the effect that while the founder's wife was doing Puja within the temple, the outsiders in whose presence she used to observe purdah were stopped from entering the temple. The Supreme Court observed - "We are of opinion that this fact does not afford sufficient ground for the conclusion that the villagers did hot worship at the temple as a matter of right. It is nothing unusual even in well-known public temples for the puja hall being cleared of the public when a high dignitary comes for worship, and the act of the pujari in stopping the public is an expression to the regard which the entire villagers must have had for the wife of the founder who was a pardanashih lady, when she came in for worship, and cannot be construed as a denial of their rights."