Ram Lalla Virajman bereft of ‘next friends’ for Ayodhya consecration ceremony
As Ayodhya readies for Ram Lalla’s consecration, the solemnity is overshadowed by the absence of the three ‘next friends’ who ardently represented the deity in legal battles since 1989.
LUCKNOW: As Ayodhya is poised for the consecration of Ram Lalla at his permanent abode, the solemnity of the event is tinged with a sense of loss, as the three ‘next friends’ who had diligently represented the deity in various courts throughout the protracted legal battles for Janmabhoomi since 1989 are no longer present to bear witness to this historic moment.
Under Indian law, a deity is deemed to be an individual entity, and like a firm or a trust, it can contest its own case. The deity (Ram Lalla Virajman) is a perpetual minor and needed a ‘next friend’ to represent him in court.
On November 9, 2029, when the Supreme Court of India delivered the verdict over the contentious Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute, Ram Lalla Virajman was declared the owner of the 2.77-acre disputed land in Ayodhya, leaving his ‘next friend’ Triloki Nath Pandey delighted.
Then Pandey was on the wrong side of his age, and at 75 he was observing a waterless (nirjal) fast, which he ended after the pronouncement of judgement. “Bhagwan Ram’s second exile has ended now. He will now be able to move to his permanent abode after spending so many decades in a tent. It is the victory of Ram Lalla Virajman, but the best thing is that no one has lost,” Pandey had said while speaking to media persons after the verdict.
Pandey, who was instrumental in representing Ram Lalla Virajman in the legal proceedings, will not be there to see the deity’s installation after he died from a heart attack in September 2021.
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