KOCHI: The Kerala High Court observed orally on Tuesday that if the government empowers the police, they will take over the churches and hand them over to the Orthodox faction as per the court’s directive.
“I know what’s happening here. If you let the police act, they will act. I have complete trust in my police, except for a minority amount of bad persons, who you are now promoting. Give the power to the police, they will do it,” Justice Devan Ramachandran said.
The court made the observation while considering a contempt case against the chief secretary for the failure to comply with the order to hand over the St Thomas Orthodox Syrian Church, Cherukunnam, St Mary’s Orthodox Syrian Church, Mangalam Dam Post, and the St Mary’s Orthodox Syrian Church, Erickinchira, to the Orthodox faction.
The petition in that regard was filed by Fr Poly Varghese, vicar of the St Thomas Orthodox Syrian Church, Cherukunnam, and the representatives of two other churches, seeking to initiate a contempt case for not implementing the court’s order. The court adjourned the case to June 12.