Piravom Church: Resistance against enforcement of court verdict
text_fields
Believers and priests during a scuffle at Piravom church on Thursday _file
"Kochi: the St Mary’s Jacobite Syrian church in Piravom witnessed tense moments on Monday afternoon after the police entered the premises to implement last year’s Supreme Court order giving the control to the Orthodox faction.
The SC had ruled 1,100 parishes and their churches under the Malankara Church should be controlled by the Orthodox faction, as per the 1934 Malankara Church guidelines.
The small town in Ernakulam district came to a standstill amid protests by the Jacobite faction. They had gathered inside the church premises and locked themselves in to prevent police from entering the church.
The believers raised suicide threat if police attempt to attach the church and give it to Orthodox section. Some of the protestors even poured kerosene oil and threatened to self-immolate of police tried to enter the church. Many women protestors scaled the church walls threatening to jump.
Jacobites claimed around 2,500-3,000 families of their faction belong to the Piravom Church, much bigger a number than that of the Orthodox.
