THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police have registered a case against 480 people including priests, church staff and the office-bearers of CSI Christ church in connection with the annual retreat of CSI South Kerala diocese which took place in Munnar last month allegedly violating the Covid-19 protocol. The case has been registered based on the preliminary report of Devikulam Tahsildar, who submitted the report based on the instruction of Devilkulam sub-collector S Prem Krishnan.
Earlier, Idukki District Collector H Dineshan, who learned about this event on Wednesday, asked the Devikulam sub-collector to submit a report on this issue.
"On Wednesday, the village officer was asked to submit a report. It stated that the organisers violated the protocol. So I instructed the Tahsildar to submit a report to the police for further action. A report on the same findings has been submitted to the Collector," Prem Krishnan told The New Indian Express.
The priests and the office-bearers have been booked under the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Ordinance, 2020 and Section 269 (Whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both) of the Indian Penal Code.
"The police were also not informed about this event. So an FIR has been registered. We will take further action after verifying the CCTV footage there to check whether the priests had followed the government restrictions. Preliminary reports and evidence confirmed that they have violated the protocol. Based on the investigation, we will also submit the report in the court soon," said R Suresh, DySP, Munnar.
Meanwhile, the organisers of the event, who are the priest and family of Munnar Christ church where the event took place, have also tested Covid-19 positive and they are under treatment at a hospital.