INDIA:The number 13 is a jinxed one for many, but India's supreme court has decreed it will not tolerate the superstition in legal circles, since allegedly it is based on Christian thinking which conflicts with the country's secular constitution.
In the case of Kerala high court versus Superstitious Number 13, a bench headed by chief justice YK Sabharwal conveyed its displeasure earlier this week to the southern Indian state for not having a number 13 courtroom.
Courtroom 12 in Kerala's high court is followed by courtroom number 12A, which is succeeded by 14.
"The high court is an institution. It should not be allowed to encourage this sort of superstition," the supreme court told senior counsel TV Viswanatha Iyer, appearing for the Kerala high court in response to a petition by agitated social worker NK Chandramohan.
Mr Chandramohan had complained that since 1995 the Kerala high court, which has 30 court halls, had avoided designating one of its courtrooms as 13, believing it to be "evil".
He claimed the superstition was based on a Christian belief that the number 13 was a bad omen as Jesus was the 13th guest at the Last Supper.
The Kerala high court, however, had earlier dismissed his petition, levying 10,000 rupees (€173) in costs.
At the supreme court, the registrar general of the Kerala high court defended the absence of courtroom number 13 by arguing that the allocation of court numbers is an administrative decision taken by a committee of five judges headed by the state chief justice.
As an afterthought he added that the new court buildings - sans courtroom 13 - opened on February 13th this year - but it was a Monday not a Friday.