The Pathanamthitta Additional Sessions Court has sentenced 18 persons to one-year rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹27,000 each in a criminal case in connection with a dispute over a temple ritual at Malayalappuzha, near here, on March 14, 2002.
The court set free 17 others, including District Congress Committee vice president Vettoor Jyotiprasad, as the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove the charges levelled against them.
As many as 146 persons had been chargesheeted in the case for preventing officials from discharging their duty during the visit of former Commissioner of Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) C.P. Nair to the Malayalappuzha Bhagavathy temple on March 14 in connection with the conduct of the Sathakoti Archana ritual. The commissioner’s suggestion that the ‘‘highly expensive Sathakoti Archana planned at the temple could be replaced with a less costly ritual’’ had evoked violent protests from the devotees.
The irate devotees, including women, had staged a blockade before the Sadyalayam where the TDB commissioner and other officials were holding discussions. The TDB team was detained inside the Sadyalayam, demanding a written assurance from the commissioner on the TDB’s commitment to conduct the Sathakoti Archana as scheduled.
The commissioner later agreed to give it in writing on a white paper that the ritual would be held as scheduled. The mob demanded that the written assurance be given on a stamp paper.
The situation took a violent turn when the police used force to remove the agitating devotees. A stone-throwing incident followed and the police fired three times in the air and burst tear gas shells to disperse the mob.
Many people, including women and mediapersons, were injured in the violence. The police broke open the Sadyalayam gate and released the commissioner and other officials.
Scared of police case and harassment, two accused, Sivanandan and Murali, had committed suicide.
During the course of time 10 accused died and 80 persons, who were not identified as culprits during the course of trial, were also eliminated from the list of accused, leaving only 35 persons in the final list of accused.
The prosecution could not prove the `conspiracy’ theory and the charge that there was an attempt to murder the commissioner and certain police officers.
The court gave time to all the convicted till July 15 for filed an appeal.