Case against bishop, priests in connection with stir against Adani Vizhinjam port

Tightening the stand against the Thiruvananthapuram Latin Catholic church's stir against Adani Vizhinjam international seaport project, the police have arraigned archbishop Thomas J Netto and many senior priests relating to the growing tension on Saturday.

Two opposing groups of protestor clashed on Saturday causing much chaos in the area. Nine cases have been registered against agitators that protested the project while those that backed the project by staging a counter protest got slapped with one case, as per sources.

Despite being absent from the spot, the archbishop and several other senior priests were accused of hatching conspiracy and calling for riots. The priests that were on site along with other known representative of the coastal community and around 1,000 protesters were accused of attempt to murder and causing damage to public property worth around Rs 2 lakh.

A circular was reportedly read out at churches under the archdiocese calling upon believers to intensify the stir.

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Vicar general Eugine Pereira alleged that the government was trying to sabotage the stir by deliberately creating tension and accusing priests and coastal community.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to take forward the proposal of Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited to make Latin Catholic archdiocese liable for the loss of more than Rs 100 crore caused due to ongoing stir. The matter is likely to come up before court soon.

Despite repeated directives of the Kerala High Court to ensure that the stir did not affect port construction, the police have been avoiding the use of force as it could lead to a major law and order breakdown across the coastal areas of the state.

Opposition Congress flayed the decision to register case against bishop and senior priests who were not present at the protest site. Opposition leader V D Satheesan alleged that the left-front government was favouring the Adani group while ignoring the plight of the coastal community.