Tension at Kerala's Marthoman church over power tussle

Tension prevailed at Marthoman church at Mulanthuruthy in Ernakulam district in Kerala on Monday morning after the district administration forcefully took control of the church as per court directive.

In an early morning operation, a police team entered the church, situated about 10 kilometres from Kochi city, by breaking the locks and arrested priests and devotees who tried to obstruct them.

The police action was in view of the court directive to give an update on Monday about the implementation of its earlier order to take control of the church from the Jacobite faction of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.

After a long legal battle, the Supreme Court had given control of about 1,100 churches to the Orthodox faction in 2017. But the Jacobite faction is not willing to hand over the control of many churches under its control.

A section of the believers of the Jacobite church, led by a metropolitan of the Kochi diocese, had been staging a demonstration at the church over the last few days to resist the police action. The Jacobite faction alleged that many priests and believers were injured in the police action.