Director General of Police (Prisons) R. Sreelekha has come out against the Kuthiyottam ritual, involving piercing of a hook on children’s sides after five days’ penance, performed at the Attukal Devi Temple as part of the Pongala festival
In her blog titled ‘Time to Stop this Yearly Crime in the Name of Faith!’, Ms. Sreelekha writes: “...for 1,000 odd boys, it’s torture time in Attukal now. Parents conspire with temple authorities to put their children through rigorous mental and physical abuse for five days... And on the final day, each of them will be decked up with yellow clothes, garlands, jewellery and makeup on face, including lipstick, and made to stand in a queue for their last unexpected torture. An iron hook, tiny though it is, will be pierced into their skin on their flanks. They scream. Blood comes out. A thread will be symbolically knotted through the hooks to symbolise their bond with divinity. Then hooks are pulled out and ash roughly applied on the wounds! All this for temple deity! Parents may feel relieved that their boys will now grow up to be disciplined kids and do well in their studies. Will the kids too feel the same? And how will our dear Attukal Amma be feeling?”
Ms. Sreelekha, who is the first woman IPS officer in the State, points out that “most of the boys will not be informed about any of these tortures when parents take them from the home to the temple. Causing physical and mental pain to children are offences under Sections 89, 319, 320, 349, 350, 351 of Indian Penal Code. The Juvenile Justice Act and the Child Welfare Commission Act penalises it. Who will complain? Parents will not, those who see it will not since they have no locus standi. Will a child complain? How will he even know that a crime has been committed on him? And I found everyone with whom I talked knew about this torture on children, but did or are planning to do nothing!”
The DGP, herself a devotee of the Attukal deity and who used to offer Pongala since the age of 10, says she woke up to the cruel act when her personal security officer’s son formed part of the boy contingent last year. “It came as a shock to me. I never knew till then that these poor boys will actually be pierced with a hook. I just thought there will be some symbolic tying up of thread around their waists. All these years I had not seen any picture in the media of boys being pierced. I had read no reports in any newspapers about it either,” she says, and adds, “A crime is about to happen on hapless kids, the piercing will take place this year on March 2 evening. I have been requesting people to stop it ever since I knew about this weird custom. Will it have any effect? I am not offering pongala this year. Unless there will be a divine intervention to stop this from happening. This time at least, I pray to Attukal Amma to save her boy soldiers from getting physically hurt in Her name!”
