Police registers FIR in Chooral Muriyal

ALAPPUZHA: The police on Friday registered an FIR  against those who defied the court orders and conducted the banned ritual of ‘Chooral Muriyal’ (cane branding) at  Chettikulangara devi temple on Thursday. Contempt of court cases were registered against the temple authorities, the parents of kids and the persons who offered Kuttiyottam for the ritual  as part of Kumba Bharani festival.

Mr S. Surendran, district police chief, said that the officer concerned had been asked to collect the  CCTV footage and  medical report of the kids as evidence. “No specific name of the accused has been mentioned in the FIR,” he  said. The High Court had ordered not to conduct the ritual and the police and Travancore Devaswom Board had served separate notices on the  persons concerned.  They had   also given an undertaking  in the court on Tuesday that they would not conduct the ritual.

As many as 30 kids below eight  from 12 sets of Kuttiyottams were subjected to the ritual on Thursday.     Mr P. Sreekumar, circle inspector, Mavelikara, said that the  process of identifying the accused was on. The police had earlier collected the details of the kids who had been bought for the ritual.