Ernakulam district administration took over the Jacobite Syrian Cathedral Church at Mulanthuruthy in the early hours of Monday. The move comes after the Kerala High Court set August 17 as the deadline for the handover of the church to the Orthodox faction. The court will consider the case at 10 am today.
Police arrested protesters belonging to the Jacobite group of the Malankara church before taking over the church.
The district administration will submit a report to the court today, said Ernakulam Sub Collector Snehil Kumar Singh.
The Kerala High Court has held that it is appropriate to seek the assistance of central forces for taking the possession of the Mulanthuruthy church from the Jacobite faction.
The High Court was hearing a contempt of court petition filed by Orthodox faction vicar Father Geo George.
The state government had earlier submitted that due to COVID-19 and floods in Ernakulam, the district administration is not in a position to take possession of the church.
The Kerala High Court had made it clear that that the affairs of the church shall not be in the hands of the Jacobite faction vicar at any rate. It directed that if the collector was of the view that if on account of the deployment of the police for COVID-19 duties sufficient police could not be deployed, he shall wait till such period to hand over the church to the petitioners.
( With inputs from ANI )