KOCHI: A scuffle broke out between Orthodox and Jacobite factions at St George church, Peechanikkad, on Sunday as Orthodox believers tried to enter the church. Angamaly police registered a case after the Orthodox faction alleged that a gang of 25 persons attacked them at the church.
According to the police, an FIR was registered after the Orthodox believers who sustained injuries in the scuffle filed a complaint. The case was registered under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 144 (unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapon),147 (Punishment for rioting), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means).
An arrest is yet to be made. According to Fr Johns Abraham Konat, spokesperson of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the custody of St George church legally belonged to them and the attack was pre-planned. Fr Eldhose Thelappilly of the Orthodox faction sustained injuries in the scuffle.