KOCHI: The body language and facial expression of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) guard while shoving Sabarimala pilgrims in front of the ‘Sreekovil’ should be deprecated in the strongest words, the Kerala High Court said in an order on Monday. The court added that action should be taken against the guard, Arunkumar S.
A division bench comprising justices Anil K Narendran and PG Ajithkumar said in an order (SSCR No.4/23), “We have also viewed the visuals that appeared in visual media. As stated in the report of the Special Commissioner, the body language and the facial expression of the Devaswom guard while shoving the pilgrims in front of Sreekovil of Sabarimala Sannidhanam has to be deprecated in the strongest words. For such misbehavior towards pilgrims, the Devaswom guard has to be proceeded against, in accordance with law.”
The court was considering a case registered suo motu based on a report filed by the Sabarimala special commissioner regarding the misbehavior of the guard on ‘Makaravilakku’ day, on January 14th. The incident occurred after ‘Deeparadhana’ when devotees were having ‘darshan’ along the first row in front of the ‘Sreekovil’.
In the report filed by the special commissioner, the guard was identified by the special commissioner as Arunkumar S, devaswom watcher, Manacaud Devaswom, Thiruvananthapuram group and he was posted on special duty at the ‘Sopanam’. He was relieved from duty at Sabarimala and sent back to his home station the next day, the report said.
The bench pointed out that the high court had issued an order earlier (Sajeev Sastharam Vs. State of Kerala, 2022) directing devaswom guards and police to regulate the movement of pilgrims through barricades and by causing the least inconvenience to pilgrims. The police special officer at Sannidhanam and the Sopanam special officer of TDB should have prevented such misbehavior by devaswom guards, the court said while asking TDB to file an affidavit explaining the action taken against the guard by January 23rd. The court will hear the case again on January 24th.
