Kozhikode
The administration of a temple in the heart of the city that houses rare artefacts throwing light on the medieval history of Kozhikode district has hit a sticky situation with the opposition from some of the members in the Kerala Police Officers’ Association (KPOA) and Kerala Police Association (KPA) against “forcible” fund collection. The Bhadrakali temple at Mananchira, which is popularly known as “police temple”, is the only temple in the State directly governed by the police.
The demand of a section of police officials, mostly non-believers, is that the temple administration should be handed over to the Malabar Devaswom Board to end the row. They allege that the monthly collection of ₹20 from all the police officials in the name of temple administration and its festivals is against the declared policy of the department.
The protest against fund collection came out openly in the wake of a recent directive issued by the District Police Chief (Kozhikode city) to all Station House Officers to collect the pending dues from all the subordinates to meet the temple expenses. Though it was well-received by many, a section of members stood up with protests to end the practice and hand over the administration to the Devaswom Board.
According to some of the opposing members, the custom of police officers handling the administrative roles of the temple goes back to the British period, which has to be corrected. The British got the temple from the Mudaliyar community and maintained it to cater to the spiritual needs of the Hindu faithful, who were then part of the police force.
Even now, the District Police Chief continues to be the president of the temple administrative committee. The Assistant Commissioner (Admin) and the Assistant Commissioner (traffic) are the vice president and secretary, respectively. All the writers at the city police stations continue to be members of the administrative body following the convention.
The remuneration of the priest and other staff is paid from the commonly mobilised fund. There were also days when the temple priest was given accommodation at the police quarters. The temple was reopened in 2011 after a major renovation spending ₹25 lakh.
It was the Archaeological Department’s investigations and studies that made the temple under the police administration popular. The study conducted following the request of Rajesh Dewan, Director General of Police (North Kerala), had unveiled the importance of two stone sculptures of Dwarapalakas dating back to the 14 th century. There were also rare Shivlinga snake idol and Tamil stone inscriptions which belonged to the 17 th century.
A functionary of the KPA told The Hindu on Thursday that there had been differences of opinion among police officials over the compulsory fund collection for over the past three years. “There were even police officials, who expressed their unwillingness to contribute to the fund in writing. This could be settled only with the intervention of the State Police Chief,” he said.
