The State government on Monday informed the Kerala High Court that in the event of a forcible takeover of the Kothamangalam church, now located in a containment zone, the public, driven by religious fervour, are likely to gather, leading to a breach of physical distancing norms and super spread of COVID-19.
In a report filed in response to a contempt of court petition filed by the vicar of the Orthodox faction, the government said the takeover of a church at Mullaringad in Idukki district had resulted in an assembly of 250-odd people belonging to the parish and the police had to forcibly remove them. The incident had resulted in a super spread of COVID-19 in the Mullaringad area of Vannapppuram panchayat.
The Kothamangalam church is located in ward 17 of Kothamangalam municipality that had been declared as a containment zone. The District Medical Officer had reported that 64 people were under treatment for COVID-19 in the Kothamangalam municipal area alone. The situation was precarious. Therefore, more precaution and care were necessary to avoid a super spread of the disease in the area, the report said.
There were intelligence inputs indicating the possibility of parishioners and other devotees causing obstruction to the forcible implementation of the High Court directive. That would defeat the objectives of the guidelines and the standard operating procedure issued by the government to contain the spread of COVID-19.
In fact, there had been no laxity or delay in implementing the High Court directive. The government, therefore, pleaded that the contempt of court petition filed against the District Collector and others be dropped.
