With the Bharani festival at the Kodungalloor Sreekurumba Bhagavathy temple round the corner, the Thrissur District Collector has declared Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which prohibits assembly of five or more people, at Kodungalloor taluk to avoid crowding.
The restriction is part of the preventive measures taken against the spread of COVID-19. It will come into effect on Sunday and continue till March 29. The Kodungalloor Bharani is on March 27. The Collector declared the prohibitory orders following a meeting convened by Minister for Local Self-Governments A.C. Moideen at Kodungalloor.
Just rituals
The Bharani celebrations of the temple will be restricted to rituals. The restrictions have been imposed with the consent of the Devaswom Board and Kodungalloor Kovilakam, he said.
The administration intensified the restrictions as people from various districts assembled at the temple as part of the ‘kozhikkallu moodal’ ritual on Friday, ignoring directives.
Three deputy collectors were given powers of executive magistrates to take necessary steps at Kodungalloor.
Complaint lodged
Meanwhile, the Kodungalloor police arrested two persons on charge of sacrificing two roosters, violating the Act that bans animal/bird sacrifice. The arrested were Adityan, 22, of Sreenarayanapuram and Sarath, 26, of Methala.
They conducted rooster sacrifice at the north gate of the temple and managed to escape in a car when security persons noticed the act. Later, both were arrested on a complaint lodged by temple manager.
Symbollic offering
The animal sacrifice during the Bharani festival at the temple was banned half a century ago. After the ban, the ritual ‘kozhikkallu moodal’ used to be held symbolically, by covering the ‘balikallu’ with a red cloth and offering roosters.
An organisation had recently called for restarting the ritual of rooster sacrifice during the Bharani festival on March 27.
