An Indian court has put a pair of Hundu gods on notice.

Sub-judge Sunil Kumar Singh has placed newspaper notices in Dhanbad, in the eastern state of Jharkhand, demanding that the Hindu gods Ram and Hanuman present themselves to explain the disposition of two local temples.

The controversy is over who owns the land upon which the temples are located. Locals petitioned to have it declared a public holding. Manmohan Patnaik, the resident priest, claims the land as his own.

In February, the judge sent court agents to serve papers requiring someone to represent the temple in the case. Lords Ram and Hanuman were named as parties. But nobody was available on the temple grounds to receive the summons.

Now the judge wants Ram and Hunuman front-and-center to put an end to the controversy, which has been grinding through the courts since 1987.

Naming gods in judicial cases isn’t unknow in India — or in the United States, for that matter.

Back in September, Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers sued God in in Omaha District court, complaining that the deity was to blame for “fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, and ferocious famines.”

That’s going to drive up the heavenly legal defense budget. It just doesn’t pay to be a supernatural being these days.

Link: Express India (via Skeptico)