Bombay high court raps Parsi punchayet, says it cannot ban priests

Trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) cannot arrogate powers to themselves in a mistaken belief that they are custodians of religion, the Bombay high court said on Friday, while lifting a ban on two Zoroastrian priests from praying at the BPP’s facilities.

The judges said, “The court has carefully gone through the Deed of Trust and we do not find any provision that empowers the trustees to prevent a duly ordained Zoroastrian priest from performing religious rites and ceremonies as far as it is for Parsi members.”

Framroze Mirza and Khushroo Madon were banned in June 2009 from praying or performing religious ceremonies in Towers of Silence at Malabar Hill, Godavara Agiary at Fort and SF Jokhi Agiary at Godrej Baug, Napeansea Road because they had been conducting Navjotes for children from mixed marriages and offering after-death prayers for those who had opted for non-traditional funerals.

BPP chairperson Dinshaw Mehta said, “We will probably go to the Supreme Court to challenge it, but we still want to decide on that and what needs to be done as future course of action.”

Following the ban, former municipal commissioner Jamshed Kanga and former Tata Chemicals MD Homi Khusrokhan filed originating summons seeking the HC’s assistance in interpreting legal documents (in this case the BPP’s Deed of Trust made in 1884) to find out whether the document gave trustees the authority to decide on a religious matter.

The court dismissed the application. Kanga and Khusrokhan then filed the present appeal against the order.