Hundreds of members of the Jacobite faction of the Malankara Church marched to the office of the District Police Chief (Rural) K. Karthik on Saturday, alleging that the faction was being “denied justice” by the State administration and the police.
A spokesman for the Jacobite group said Mr. Karthik had promised the protesters that their grievances would be looked into. The spokesman alleged that the government and the police were using force to evict them from parish churches to which they were entitled under the cover of the Supreme Court verdict of July 2017. Metropolitan trustee of the Jacobite church Joseph Mar Gregorios was among the church leaders who joined the protest march at Aluva on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, leaders of the Jacobite church met at Aluva to discuss the state of affairs and to chalk out the future course of action in the wake of the State government showing more urgency in handing over parish church administration to the Orthodox group.
SC verdict
The meeting of the Jacobite group and its public protest follow the State administration’s efforts to implement a Supreme Court verdict banning all parallel administration of Malankara churches and handing over control of all parishes to the Orthodox group.
The Kerala High Court had pulled up the District Collector last week for the administration’s failure in handing over the Marthoman Cheriyapalli (St. Thomas Church) at Kothamangalam to the Orthodox group following the Supreme Court verdict.
