“Deity is a juristic personality. River Tamirabharani is admittedly worshipped as a deity by Hindus. Therefore, it partakes the character of a person. We, therefore, make it clear that we recognise the personhood of the Tamirabharani not because it is a river but because She is a deity. No one has a right to pollute her,” the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has held.

A Division Bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and B. Pugalendhi said polluting the river would be a breach of not only statutory provisions found in various environmental laws and fundamental rights of fellow citizens under Article 21 of the Constitution, but also the rights of the River Herself. She was hereby recognised for Her own intrinsic value.

Conferment of juristic personality in this case was only for a limited purpose, ie., right not to be polluted. The conferral of juristic personality was a legal innovation applied by courts in situations where the existing law had certain shortcomings or such conferral increased the convenience of adjudication.

The Tamirabharani had been heavily polluted. The rituals practised by Hindus were also a contributory factor. They invoked Article 25 of the Constitution to resist the move to ban dumping of clothes. The objectors had no answer when asked whether they were entitled to desecrate their own Devi, the court said.

“There is another reason why we have conferred personhood on the river... Climate change is the most formidable challenge facing humanity. This is a direct fallout of environmental degradation. Laws alone are not sufficient to deal with the problem. Even strict implementation would not achieve the objective. Human nature must change. And that is possible more by moral interventions. We, therefore, feel that jurisprudence must increasingly align itself with spiritual ecology. Especially in a country like India,” it said.

Dumping clothes and other articles in the river stood banned by this directive. The district administration should take immediate steps to prevent pollution of the river in the name of rituals for the dead, the court said.

People must be told that polluting the river would be treated as contempt of court. The local body should pass resolutions for levying fines. The district administration should involve civil society members in enforcing the mandate to keep the river pollution-free. The local police must rush to their assistance when they were engaged in preventing people from polluting the river, the court directed.

But, the court permitted immersion of ashes in the river. The ashes should be carried only in unfired earthen pots so that the pots would dissolve in wate, the court said.

The court directed Arulmighu Papanasa Swamy Thirukoil, Papanasam, to take over ‘Anandhavilas’, a Mandapam (pavilion) situated in Papanasam on a bathing ghat of the river. The Executive Officer/Trustees should liaison with the ASI and restore the Mandapam to its original position.

Published - July 29, 2026 09:54 pm IST