'Who gave authority to him?' Kerala HC grills CPI (M) leader Arun for manhandling Lord Ayyappa devotees
17 Jan 2023 12:41:30
Kochi, January 17: Coming down heavily on the CPI (M) leader & Sabrimala guard, Arun Kumar, who was caught on video pushing and shoving devotees while they were praying on Saturday (January 14 ), the Kerala high court ask the temple board to share details of action taken against him.
This comes after a video in which Arun Kumar is seen manhandling the Lord Ayyappa devotees goes viral on social media. It should be noted that Arun is connected to CPM’s Travancore Devasom Board, the body which manages the daily operations of the hilltop shrine. The video was brought to the attention of the high court’s Devasom bench by several lawyers.
Taking a serious note of how the guard regulated devotees who arrived for the Makaravilakku ritual on January 14, a bench of Justices Anil K Narendran and P G Ajithkumar said it was a "flagrant violation of the directions issued by this ". The court also asked for the authority of the person who had touched the bodies of the pilgrims.
"The manner in which the Devaswom guard by name, 'Arun', regulated the movement of pilgrims in front of Sreekovil, through the first row, was in flagrant violation of the directions issued by this court in the decision in Sajeev Sastharam," the bench said.
Moreover, when the state government counsel argued that the actions were part of crowd control measures, the court emphasized that there are appropriate, scientific methods of controlling crowds and that it is the responsibility of the police to implement them.