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.
Damn. That’s some next level assholery on the temple administration. Sure fire way to lose a devotee too. Fuck religion.
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.
Interestingly, the temple administration permitted Dinesh to retrieve the data from his Apple device…
why, though? does that also not belong to the deity under their twisted logic?
The deity gets to keep the original data, no harm in allowing copies.
Yeah, as soon as they handed me the phone to “get my data”, id just walk out. Maybe theres a cultural difference that im not getting here?
Yeah, a simple one.
He was donating to this god, so he’s a believer in it.
Wanting your phone back legally and properly is different from stealing from your own church.
Most Christians probably wouldn’t mug Jesus, even if they’d mug someone else.
It’d be different if he didn’t ascribe to this religion, but he does.
It sounds like it’s mostly based on tradition/fear that revoking a gift might anger the god. As much as it sounds petty, we are thinking about it as a monetary thing, since we(most of us) likely don’t believe in a god. But it has likely been the way things are done for a very long time. And fear of angering their god or losing the gods blessing is a big deal to them. Like, life or death level in their minds.
Pro move here would be to get him a different, non-sacred phone and copy the data.
That was indeed the offer made.
I think he’s paying the price for his ridiculous beliefs. All powerful gods clearly lack the understanding of a simple mistake. I’m sure the god of Bozo will make good use of that phone, you know calling all of his godly friends, surfing the heavenly net with his overpowered data plan, maybe swiping right from time to time.
I mean what exactly do they do with these phones? Probably sell them and put the money toward the church. Why not sell it back to the rightful owner?
So, say you own something illegal, and you put it in the donation box. Can the temple be punished for possessing such items? The ownership is fully the temple’s once it ends up in the donation box, no?
Dispose of murder weapon in donation box, implicate god in murder, god is arrested and jailed for 8-15 years
I have a feeling the person who originally stole it would be receiving the brunt of the punishment with the temple just assisting the local police to ensure nothing happens to them… unless it’s one of the countries where the police are corrupt and will attack regardless of situation.
You haven’t watched one indian movie, I bet. 😂
You’re right that I’ve never seen an Indian movie, as far as I’m aware. I’m sure they have some good ones, but I’ve never been interested in them. Hell, I’m not even interested in live action anymore, so I have even less interest in them now.
Whats the trope?
I think in every single Indian movie I’ve seen (which is not a lot), the police are corrupt lol. Even in ones where the main character is a cop, the other police are corrupt.
Such a “Not The Onion” headline. Article is more hilarious too, although being completely real.
Does that mean we can now phone a god? They probably won’t reply as they’ll be too busy shitposting on social media, but still…
The funny part is an iPhone is essentially a brick if it’s activated to someone else’s account. Wouldn’t be possible for the church to even use it without the owners cooperation, which I would assume they didn’t get.
Somebody in Shenzhen can make something work from that phone.
Sell it to someone who sell it to someone who ship it to Shenzhen.
Donate some fire to the deity.
That’s fucked up.
Kobe!
