The Kerala High Court on Tuesday took suo moto cognisance of alleged violations of Covid-19 protocols last week during the wedding of the business giant Ravi Pillai’s son and sought an explanation from the board of Sree Krishna Temple at Guruvayur, where the event took place, Onmanorama reported.
Actor Mohanlal and his wife were among those who attended the wedding. The actor had shared a couple of photos taken at the wedding on his social media handle.
Notably, the Onmanorama report says the court took up the matter after seeing pictures of the event in various media.
The court said the pictures clearly indicated that more people than the prescribed numbers took part at the event. As per the Covid-19 norms, only 12 people are allowed to participate in a wedding at the Guruvayur temple.
According to another Onmanorama report, the court also asked the Guruvayur Devaswom board how many marriages were conducted there in the past month and what arrangements were permitted for each.
The court further questioned why private security personnel were deployed for the wedding of Pillai’s son and whether devotees were prevented from entering the temple on the wedding days.
Ravi Pillai is the founder and managing director of RP Group of companies. He is one of the country’s richest people and had gifted an emerald-studded crown weighing 725 grams to the temple before the wedding.
The bench, consisting of Justices Anil K Narendran and K Babu, sought a detailed affidavit from the Guruvayur Devaswom managing committee on the queries raised by the court before the next hearing.
The court also issued notices to the Guruvayur Devaswom board secretary, Pillai, Kerala government, Thrissur ASP, the temple managing committee’s administrator, as well as the Collector and Sectoral Magistrate, seeking their response in the matter.
Meanwhile, in response to the court’s order dated on September 7, seeking explanations specifically about the decorations at the nadappanthal (the place in front of the shrine where functions are conducted), the administrator of the Guruvayur Devaswom had filed an affidavit before the court, stating that the news reports, based on which the petition was initiated, were not fully correct and contained misleading facts.
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The affidavit stated that Pillai was granted permission only to perform ‘pushpalankaram‘ (flower decorations). However, the event management team hired by Pillai had done some additional decoration work. The affidavit also noted the event managers removed the extra decorations as soon as the temple authorities ordered them to do so.
Noting that there was no violation of Covid-19 protocols, the temple’s committee urged the court to drop the suo moto proceedings. They also told the court that over 100 marriages were being conducted in the nadappanthal in front of Guruvayur Temple in strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols, with each marriage party permitted to have only 12 people, excluding the bride and groom.
The court has posted the case’s next hearing on October 5.