Now Reading: Supreme Court orders every rupee of Banke Bihari donations to temple treasury
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Supreme Court orders every rupee of Banke Bihari donations to temple treasury
Supreme Court orders every rupee of Banke Bihari donations to temple treasury
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that every donation at Vrindavan's Banke Bihari temple must go into official donation boxes or the temple's online account, after a court-appointed committee reported that sevayats (priests) were pocketing offerings. Senior advocate Maninder Singh told a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant that sevayats were covering donation boxes with flowers and collecting cash directly from devotees into polythene bags. Singh also alleged that QR codes for online donations had been destroyed or hidden.
Brushing aside arguments that a court decree allowed sevayats to keep a share, the bench warned that any impediment to transparent donations would be 'viewed very seriously'. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing the sevayats, countered that the temple management committee itself was misusing funds to buy properties. The Court gave all parties one week to file objections to the committee's report. The matter is part of ongoing litigation over a 2025 Uttar Pradesh ordinance that seeks to replace the temple's current management with a state-controlled trust.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Both Times of India and Rediff report the same Court order identically: every donation must go to the temple treasury. Rediff adds context the ToI omits, photographs of sevayats blocking donation boxes, QR codes being destroyed, and the wider dispute over the Uttar Pradesh ordinance replacing the temple trust. ToI leads with the Court's rebuke, Rediff leads with the word 'every penny' from the bench. The real friction is between two sets of allegations: sevayats siphoning funds versus the management committee misusing temple money to buy property. The Court has given both sides one week to file objections. The next hearing will test whether either allegation holds.
Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral
Sources (2): timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report), rediff.com (neutral report)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Methodology and corrections.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
