A temple in Tamil Nadu reportedly denied a devotee’s request to return his iPhone which he accidently dropped into the ‘hundi’ (donation box or hundial), asserting that it has now become temple property.
The devotee, identified as Dinesh, realised that his iPhone inadvertently slipped into the ‘hundi’ while he was making the donation at Arulmigu Kandaswamy temple in Thiruporur near Chennai.
He then approached temple officials and pleaded for the return of his phone. However, his request was met with a polite refusal.
Interestingly, the temple administration permitted Dinesh to retrieve the data from his Apple device, but declined to return the phone itself. Dinesh, however, stood firm, insisting on the phone’s return.
When the matter reached Karnataka minister PK Sekar Babu, he stated that any item deposited in the donation box of a temple, regardless of whether it was intentional or accidental, becomes part of the deity’s account.
They technically paid him back for it, it’s just the “custom” that once it goes in, it’s someone else’s property I guess.
No, they technically did not. They are considering the possibility of compensating him. They cited a woman whose gold chain accidentally slipped into the box, and how one guy personally bought her an equivalent replacement.
After reading the article, this is little more than an equivalent to the US’s civil forfeiture law. It’s cheap and unscrupulous, and there is no excusing the practice. Period.
It is in no way comparable to civil forfeiture, except that both result in losing an item.