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Madhya Pradesh: 14 year old girl gang raped by her own classmates by using her pictures and videos to blackmail

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: 14 year old girl gang raped by her own classmates by using her pictures and videos to blackmail

A 14-year-old minor girl, Pinky (name changed) hailing from Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh was allegedly gang-raped by her own classmates, Ahmed (name changed) and Usman (name changed). The victim and the two accused were classmates studying in St. Joseph’s Convent School in Madhya Pradesh.

The two accused had been blackmailing Pinky with her photographs and videos for the last one month and had many a time extracted money from her by threatening her of posting her private photo and videos on social media. The accused even used the picture and video to rape the victim a couple of times.

After being traumatised for over a month, the victim narrated her ordeal to her parents who in turn lodged a complaint with the Ratlam police on Wednesday. According to reports, the police have arrested the two accused and registered a case against them under the POSCO Act.

In what transpired, the accused, who had been blackmailing the victim with her pictures and videos for over a month, had on September 9, at around 3.30 pm called up the victim and said that they would be coming to her house. When the accused reached the victim’s house, Pinky was alone in her house. The two taking advantage of the situation raped Pinky in her house. The brutality left Pinky bleeding.

Ten days later, the accused again called her up and asked her to come to a hotel where they again gang-raped her. The repeated assaults started showing on the victim’s health. Fed up of the mental and physical trauma, Pinky then narrated her ordeal to her parents.

Meanwhile, the police along with the two accused have also arrested the hotel manager and another employee and have also seized the CCTV footage from the hotel where the purported crime took place. The hotel owner who is also a Congress leader, Nimish Vyas, has informed the police that the accused had hired the room shortly before the incident.

After the news gained traction students from the Kanya Mahavidyalay and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, took to the streets and staged protest in front of the Ratlam police station demanding justice for the minor girl. Meanwhile, SP Gaurav Tiwari reached the station and assured the protesting student’s that the case would be investigated and the guilty would be punished.

BJP distances itself from rape accused Swami Chinmayanand, says no more a party member

OpIndia Staff
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BJP distances itself from rape accused Swami Chinmayanand, says no more a party member

The Bharatiya Janta Party’ Uttar Pradesh unit has today distanced itself from Swami Chinmayanand. The BJP leader who was arrested by the SIT following charges of rape and physically exploitation on September 20 has been expelled from the party. “Chinmayanand isn’t a BJP member anymore,” confirmed UP BJP spokesperson Harish Chandra Srivastava.

“I am saying this as a spokesperson of the BJP. I am saying this with responsibility. He is not a BJP member and the law will take its course against him,” said Harish Shrivastava, the UP BJP spokesperson.

After the controversy erupted, no BJP leader has come forward to extend any kind of support to Swami Chinmayanand, who has been in judicial custody since the last five days.

Chinmayanand was accused of rape by a law student in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur. She had accused him of raping her and “physically exploitation”, had alleged that the former MP recorded videos of her while she was in the bath and used them to blackmail and rape her.

Meanwhile, Swatantra Dev Singh, UP BJP chief, when asked whether the party proposed any action against Chinmayanand, said: “He was never a BJP member and hence the question does not arise.”

The statement came after the law student who was accused in an extortion case was arrested and sent to 14-day judicial custody. It is alleged that she and her friends demanded money from Swami Chinmayanand. She was arrested after the SIT probing the case confirmed that they had found sufficient evidence against the law student in the extortion case. SIT chief Naveen Arora said the student was arrested after “enough” digital and forensic evidence was found and statements of people recorded.

“We have sufficient evidence that Rs 5 crore extortion money was demanded from Chinmayanand. Those arrested said they sent messages to Chinmayanand on directions of the girl in panic as they were not getting money and were upset,” he told reporters here.

Meanwhile, after a huge controversy, Swami Chinmayanand, who was arrested on September 20 from his Mumuksha Ashram in Shahjahanpur, had admitted to almost every allegation levelled against him and had said that he was ashamed of his deeds.

Editors Guild of India erroneously mentions Telangana instead of Andhra Pradesh while criticising YSR Congress government

OpIndia Staff
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Editors Guild of India erroneously mentions Telangana instead of Andhra Pradesh while criticising YSR Congress government

The ignorance of self-proclaimed media watchdog of the country, Editors Guild of India, which is otherwise known for its ideological prejudice, was once again out in the open after they that wrongly mentioned YSR-Congress as the ruling party in Telangana instead of its neighbouring state Andhra Pradesh.

The gaffe occurred on Wednesday as the Editors Guild of India, in a press release, pledged their support to two TV channels -TV5 and ABN over an alleged ‘unwritten’ ban over these channels. The Editors Guild condemned the action taken by what it erroneously mentioned as ‘YSR-Congress led Telangana government’ instead of Andhra Pradesh. The Telangana government is headed by a Telangana Rashtra Samiti government led by K Chandrashekhar Rao.

By the time they realised that YSR-Congress was the ruling government in Andhra Pradesh and not Telangana, the stupidity of the media watchdog was exposed across the social media.

Editors guild of India

With no respect for southern states and their respective governments, the Editors Guild of India went on to provide a moral lecture to the state government of Andhra Pradesh over the alleged restrictions to the media in the state while making the most basic error of wrongly associating a government to a different state.

The blatant disregard for basic information by the Editors Guild was soon picked by the social media users. The social media users questioned the gaffe of the Editors Guild asking them whether it was ‘tyranny of distance’ which caused them to such basic error.

As they faced embarrassment, the Editors Guild of India soon deleted the tweet, without any apology or clarification. However, they soon tweeted another post rectifying their mistake to replace Telangana with ‘Andhra Pradesh’.

The controversies are not new to Editors Guild of India. The media watchdog led by the controversial journalist Shekhar Gupta is known for taking political and ideological sides before standing up for the cause of the fellow journalists.

NIA continues to tighten its grip on JMB terror module in Bengaluru, recovers explosives making materials from Electronic City

OpIndia Staff
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NIA continues to tighten its grip on JMB terror module in Bengaluru, recovers explosives making materials from Electronic City

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has recovered several incriminating materials used for making improvised explosives and grenades, during a raid conducted in the Electronic city, Bengaluru. NIA had conducted the raid following the information disclosed by a Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), terrorist Jahidul Islam alias Kausar, whom the agency had arrested on September 19, in connection with JMB Bengaluru module case.

Kausar has disclosed that after Burdhwan blast in 2014, he and his JMB associates took shelter at various hideouts in South India to escape arrest and to further the activities of JMB in India, NIA said.

“Accused Islam also pointed out the places in Krishnagiri hill in Tamil Nadu where he along with his JMB associates namely Habibur, Arif, Fahim alias Fahad had test-fired three rocket shells prepared by them using a crude device during June-October 2017 and the place where they had concealed the remnants of the third test-fired rocket shell,” the agency said.

The NIA has in the recent raid also seized the remnants of explosive materials such as eight batteries of 1.5 volts each, a hollow cylindrical carton used for launching the rocket shell and pieces of electrical wire.

A case had been registered after the NIA had on July 9, 2019, busted the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh terror module in Bengaluru and arrested 3 terrorists belonging to the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) module in Chikkabanavara village in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Live Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), hand grenades and other incriminating materials have also been recovered from the terror module. A plan to bomb several places in Karnataka has been foiled by the investigating agencies.

The NIA has seized 5 fabricated hand-grenades, 1 Timer-device, 3 electronic circuits and suspected explosives and ready-made IEDs from the location. It is speculated that NIA was fed the information of this terror ring by arrested JMB operative Habibur Rehman Sheikh.

Bengaluru has been the preferred location for the JMB terror outfit for carrying out their nefarious activities. In the past, the Bengaluru police had retrieved two live bombs from Ramanagara, 50 kilometres from Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru. The discovery of bombs came hours after a key operative of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh Habibur Rehman Sheikh (28) alias Habibur or Sheikh was arrested in Karnataka.

Media spreads lies that Azamgarh school girl who was raped in a moving car has been suspended from her school

OpIndia Staff
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Media spreads lies that Azamgarh school girl who was raped in a moving car has been suspended from her school

In a horrific incident, a school girl in the Uttar Pradesh town of Azamgarh was allegedly raped by two men in a moving car while she was returning back from her school. A student of class XI, was reportedly kidnapped by two car-borne youth who raped her and later abandoned her near a pond on Saturday.

A medico-legal test was conducted on the victim and an FIR was filed in the case by the father of the victim on Sunday. The police caught the two accused in the sexual assault case the following day and slapped charges under IPC sections 376-D (gangrape), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) along with relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the accused.

The girl forcibly picked up by the two men in an SUV and was subjected sexual assault by them. She was later thrown out at a secluded place from where she trudged along to a country-liquor shop where she recounted her painful ordeal.

After the gang-rape incident came to light, several media houses published stories claiming that the girl was expelled from the school.

Indian Express report which states that the school principal barred her from school

However, the Azamgarh police have refuted the rumours saying that the girl is not removed from the school and is continuing with her studies.

While talking to OpIndia, the CRO to Azamgarh SP Triveni Singh, Devendra Pratap Singh dispelled the rumours floating about the suspension of the victim from the school. “The victim is continuing her studies in the school and all the rumours of her being expelled from the school are baseless,” Singh said. He also said that the two accused- Sikander, who worked as a driver and Rishi Kapoor, who ran a mobile shop have been arrested and the matter is in the court.

Pakistani media celebrates Khan-Trump presser as ‘roaring success’ even as Imran Khan laments failure over Kashmir

K Bhattacharjee
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Pakistani media celebrates Khan-Trump presser as ‘roaring success’ even as Imran Khan laments failure over Kashmir

Pakistani media outlet The Nerve Center (TNC), that claims to transform the media in the country “through research, data analytics and innovation” claims that their Prime Minister Imran Khan’s meeting with POTUS Donald Trump was a “roaring success”.


In their view, Mr Trump has a “special relationship” with Imran Khan despite being ruthless in the international area. Perhaps, they haven’t realized it yet but as part of his ‘America First’ policy, Mr Trump keeps his enemies far but allies farther. Therefore, ruthlessness comes naturally to him.

Praising Imran Khan

One of the five successes listed by TNC is the praise that the US President had for Imran Khan. As anyone would have observed, these are diplomatic courtesies that are the norm whenever two heads of government meet each other. For instance, Mr Trump calls Chinese President Xi Jinping great as well but that doesn’t stop him from accusing China of cheating or imposing tariffs on them. But given Imran Khan’s track record, when he has often been driving the leaders of other countries around in hope of favourable deals, this can certainly be construed as a diplomatic triumph by Pakistan’s own standards.

Criticism of Trump’s predecessors

The second point listed was Donald Trump’s criticism of past US Presidents. His statement that Pakistan had been treated unfairly by his predecessors has been touted as another diplomatic triumph. It appears they haven’t been following Mr Trump for long. He has regularly criticized the foreign policy of erstwhile US governments and slammed them for the deterioration of his country.

His campaign literally said ‘Make America Great Again’ which means that his predecessors had ruined the country. Therefore, it’s not really a surprise that Mr Trump criticized US foreign policy with respect to Pakistan as well. How did he change it? By putting an end to millions of dollars in aid to Pakistan, which again, doesn’t really work in Pakistan’s favour. Apart from that, TNC conveniently ‘failed to mention’ the other part he said which was “I wouldn’t say Pakistan has treated us too well either, but maybe there was a reason.” This perhaps explains why he has put an end to the millions of dollars Pakistan was receiving as financial aid.

Mediation in Kashmir

The most interesting point, however, was on Kashmir. TNC claimed that the US President’s remarks that he was willing to mediate on Kashmir were a great diplomatic triumph for Pakistan. However, when one looks at his words closely, Mr Trump says clearly that he would mediate only if both countries agree to it.

Again, that is perfectly consistent with what India has been saying on the matter. India doesn’t want mediation. Therefore, Donald Trump won’t media as both parties aren’t agreeing to it. It’s a simple matter of putting two and two together. However, that appears to be too much for Pakistani media.

Great concern?

In response to a question about alleged human rights violations in Kashmir, Mr Trump said, “Sure. I’d like to see everything work out. I want it to be humane. I want everybody to be treated well. You have two big countries, and they’re warring countries and they’ve been fighting.” This statement was pinned as “great concern” by TNC. Donald Trump may not be known for ‘heavy words’ but even in his vocabulary, there are much better words to convey “great concern” than that. As Donald Trump would say, “This is the worst demonstration of “great concern” in the history of demonstrations of “great concern”, maybe ever.”

Even later, when Imran Khan emphasized on Kashmir and said it was a humanitarian issue, Donald Trump carefully navigated the issue without saying anything at all that could be construed as a slight to India. The full transcript of the joint press conference can be read here.

Trade, not Aid

The fourth triumph that was mentioned was “Trade not Aid”. It’s pretty hilarious considering the fact that stopping the flow of money to Pakistan hurts only them. Besides, it’s not really a surprise that Mr Trump is speaking of trade. He was a businessman before he became President and he performs his duties pretty much like a Businessman. Therefore, his emphasis on trade is not surprising.

Calling out Modi

The last on the list was “Calling out Modi”. Donald Trump praised the ‘Howdy, Modi’ mega rally in presence of Khan and said PM Modi made “very aggressive statements” on the issue of terrorism at the Houston event. He added that he was surprised himself but the statements were received well by the crowd of Indian-Americans present at the event. That isn’t ‘calling out’ anyone at all. Normally, when somebody ‘calls someone out’, there’s is an intention to cause some damage to that other person’s image.

In this particular instance, it didn’t have that effect at all. In fact, everyone agreed that the comments were a compliment which became obvious when Donald Trump praised Narendra Modi profusely during his press conference with the Indian Prime Minister. He even called Modi the ‘Father of India’ and likened him to the legendary musician Elvis Presley.

What Imran Khan himself thinks

Amusingly enough, not even Imran Khan had such a positive outlook about the success of his trip to the USA. He said at a press conference on the sidelines of the UNGA, “I am disappointed by the international community. If eight million Europeans or Jews or even eight Americans were put under siege, would the reaction have been the same? There’s no pressure yet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lift the siege. We’ll keep putting the pressure… What are 9,00,000 troops doing there? Once the curfew is lifted, god knows what is going to happen after that”. Khan lamented the global support India enjoys on Kashmir and its prominence in world affairs.

TNC’s claims of Pakistan’s triumph during Imran Khan’s press briefing with Donald Trump is little more than propaganda designed for consumption by its domestic audience. The Pakistani media serves as an extended hand of the establishment to assuage the concerns of its population and convince them of the might of the Pakistani state. After all, the establishment has even succeeded in making their citizenry believe that they have actually won every single war against India, including the one in 1971 where they surrendered meekly and lost half of their territory.

In the age of the internet, it’s extremely difficult to keep an entire country dumbed down as information is easily accessed. However, in the case of Pakistan, when the ministers and army spokesperson keep proving again and again that their collective IQ barely touches that of the donkeys they export to China, even the internet seems to have little effect in terms of enlightenment.

RBI refutes rumours of closure of 9 commercial banks

OpIndia Staff
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RBI refutes rumours of closure of 9 commercial banks

After cracking the whip on the PMC bank, several rumours of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mulling to closing down of 9 commercial banks in the country started doing the rounds on social media. Taking cognisance of such misleading speculations, the Reserve Bank of India today issued a statement clarifying that the rumours regarding the closure of commercial banks are false.


A message that said RBI is planning to close nine banks permanently, went viral on social media, causing panic among public right after the central bank imposed certain restrictions on Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank. According to a direction issued on September 24, RBI said that the account holders will not be able to withdraw more than ₹1,000.

Rejecting social media rumours, the official Twitter handle of the Reserve Bank of India put out a tweet saying, “Reports appearing in some sections of social media about RBI closing down certain commercial banks are false.”

Finance Secretary Rajeev Kumar said, “There are mischievous rumours on social media about RBI closing some banks. No question of closing any public sector bank, which are articles of faith. Rather government is strengthening PSBs with reforms and infusion of capital to better serve its customers.”

According to reports, the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank had been put under regulatory restrictions by the RBI owing to irregularities disclosed to the apex bank. In a message sent to the shareholders, the bank’s Managing Director Joy Thomas said, “I regret to inform you that your PMC Bank has been put under regulatory restriction under Section 35A of B.R. Act by RBI for a period of 6 months due to irregularities disclosed to RBI. As the MD of the Bank, I take full responsibility and assure all the depositors that these irregularities will be rectified before the expiry of six months.”

Here is why any comparison between the UK SC holding UK parliament suspension illegal and the abrogation of Article 370 is mere propaganda

OpIndia Staff
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Here is why any comparison between the UK SC holding UK parliament suspension illegal and the abrogation of Article 370 is mere propaganda

Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding Editor of notorious ultra-left propaganda website – The Wire, put his jury hat today to co-relate the judgement of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom over the issue of suspension of Parliament to criticise Supreme Court of India for not ‘beginning’ hearings on the petition relating to the abrogation of Article 370.

Varadarajan, an American citizen, who often tries to meddle in the internal affairs of India through his anti-India narrative, went on to invent strange equivalence between the recent British Supreme Court decision to rule suspension of the British parliament illegal and the alleged ‘inaction’ of the Supreme Court of India in hearing the petitions pertaining to the abrogation of Article 370.


Through his tweets, Varadarajan went on to give a moral lecture to the Supreme Court of India by stating that the UK parliament moved swiftly to declare the decision of Boris Johnson to prorogue the parliament ‘illegal’ while claiming that Indian courts are yet to begin hearing. However, the ‘theory of relativity’ of Varadarajan to assert that Indian courts are delaying the hearing of petitions concerning the issue of Kashmir is untrue.

Boris Johnson’s ‘advice’ to suspend parliament and the ruling of Supreme Court of UK:

The judgement of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom pertains to a recent decision made by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, where he had advised the Queen, who is the head of the state, to prorogue parliament for five weeks till October 14.

The controversial decision by Boris Johnson was immediately denounced by several politicians across the political spectrum. However, the British Prime Minister had refused to withdraw his recommendation to the Queen.

Soon, several petitions were filed challenging the advice of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to prorogue the parliament. Interestingly, the England High Court refused to take up the matter, arguing that it was beyond the purview of the judiciary. However, Scotland appeal court ruled that Boris Johnson’s move was unconstitutional and malafide.

Finally, the Supreme Court of the UK formed an 11-judge bench which ruled that the Prime Minister’s decision was unlawful.

With the prorogation of the British parliament by Boris Johnson is now considered to be null and void, the Supreme Court of the UK has now restored the earlier status of the parliament while ruling that it was for the Speakers of the Commons and the Lords to decide the next course of the action. The Supreme Court of the UK has actually put the ball back to the British parliament to decide on the issue of prorogation.

Why the comparison between the two Supreme Court rulings is illogical?

The Indian liberals fascination with the western cultural and legal system is quite astonishing. However, the attempts made by them to appropriate western system, be it legal, political, cultural to bring relevance to the Indian system is rather absurd and illogical. The attempts made by the liberals to relate the British Supreme Court action on the executive order and an alleged ‘inaction’ by Indian Supreme Court is mere propaganda to put pressure on the country’s executive and the judiciary, which is already hearing a series of petitions on the abrogation of Article 370.

The claims of the ‘inaction’ of Supreme Court in hearing the pleas made by the section of Indian ‘liberal-secular’ media is an outright lie as the apex court has been continuously hearing petitions related to the Article 370 and also has given various directions to the executive pertaining to the easing of restrictions in the Kashmir. The Supreme Court of India has given rulings on Article 370 whenever they considered it to be necessary.

To blame the Supreme Court for not complying to the wishes of the Indian liberals is nothing short of contempt against the Supreme Court’s decisions and the law of the land. The liberals who often jump to praise the judiciary when it delivers favourable judgements have now begun to blame the courts as it has taken its time to decide on one of the most critical cases in the history of this country. The courts in doing so, have snubbed the legal activists and PIL warriors, causing worry to the ‘liberal’ ecosystem.

Secondly, the reason that debunks these comparative theories pushed by certain ‘intellectuals’ is that the decision pertaining to the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state in two Union territories has been done by an elected parliament within the scope and framework of the constitution. The Indian government, which has been elected with a majority of seats in the parliament has democratically passed the acts in the legislature to revoke special status, including the support of various of other opposition parties.

However, the prorogation of the British parliament was an executive decision taken by Boris Johnson government contrary to a majority decision taken by the Indian government to scrap the contentious provision. So, British courts nullifying an executive decision cannot be compared with the Supreme Court of India’s decision to carefully consider a legitimate law passed by a democratically elected parliament.

In addition to that, the United Kingdom has no documented constitution and the rules, regulations, laws pertaining to its polity is interpreted through various acts of Parliament, court judgments and conventions.

However, in India, there exists a constitution, which has a detailed framework with specific procedures directing organs of the state to act upon. So, the courts in India mostly decide the legality of a law on the question of procedures establish by the law rather than due process of the law.

With this, there is a limited scope to institutions to interpret constitutional provisions. Hence, British Supreme Courts have wide powers to step in and amend its uncodified constitution contrary to the Indian courts. The Indian judiciary has always acted within the scope and framework of the constitution and has often stayed away from making laws, which is the responsibility of the legislature.

Further, the judgement by the British Supreme Court has recognised the power of the British parliament to make rules for its conduct pertaining to the prorogation of the house and stayed away from dictating procedural aspects.

Watch: BJD MP caught slapping party worker on stage, worker says it was a ‘gentle touch’

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: BJD MP caught slapping party worker on stage, worker says it was a ‘gentle touch’

A shocking video from Odisha in which Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP from Berhampur, Chandrasekhar Sahu is seen slapping a party worker on stage has gone viral on social media.

Chandrasekhar Sahu, the BJD MP from Berhampur landed himself in a controversy after he was caught on camera slapping a young party worker on stage in full public view during a party meeting held in Paralakhemundi of Gajapati district on Tuesday. Sahu slapped Sangram Sahu, former Gajapati District Youth Congress president, who had reportedly attended the meeting to join the ruling BJD.


The young party worker, Sangram Sahu who was ‘slapped’ by MP Chandrasekhar Sahu has, however, given a statement in which he has said that it was not a slap but a ‘gentle touch’.

“The MP did not slap me but only chided by just touching my cheek just like an elder brother. I have known him since my student days and also joined BJD due to his blessings,” clarified Sangram Sahu.


Though the MP received serious backlash for his behaviour, it is still not clear as to why the MP lost his cool on stage which led to the incident. Earlier today, Chandrasekhar Sahu was seen avoiding the media when questioned about his behaviour.

In an earlier incident, BJD MLA Saroj Kumar Meher from Patnagarh had drawn flak when a video of him forcing a junior PWD engineer to do sit-ups in public had gone viral on social media. In a purported video, Meher was seen reprimanding the engineer over alleged shoddy road construction work in his constituency in Belpada block in Bolangir district and asking him to do 100 sit-ups in the middle of the road.

The engineer had later revealed that the MLA had also asked an executive engineer to slap him. The Odisha police had lodged a case against the lawmaker after the engineer’s wife lodged a police complaint against Meher accusing him of publicly humiliating her husband.

Kerala: Feud between Orthodox and Jacobite factions over ownership of church heightens as police tries to implement SC verdict

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: Feud between Orthodox and Jacobite factions over ownership of church heightens as police tries to implement SC verdict

Tension prevailed at St Mary’s Church in Ernakulam district’s Piravom in Kerala on Wednesday as the feud between the Orthodox and Jacobite factions of the Malankara Syrian Church heightened following police intervention in trying to implement a controversial Supreme Court 2017 verdict regarding the Church’s management.

In a landmark judgement delivered on July 3, 2017, the Supreme Court had ruled on a centuries-old dispute between Jacobite and Orthodox factions of Kerala’s Malankara Church. The SC had ruled that 1100 parishes and their churches under the Malankara Church, which were until then controlled by the Jacobite faction should be controlled by the Orthodox faction, as per the 1934 Malankara Church guidelines.

On Wednesday morning, when the members of the Orthodox faction reached the Piravom church to offer prayers and formally take over the administration, the Jacobite faction members, under the leadership of a few Metropolitan priests, locked the gates and assembled inside, chanting prayers and slogans.

They refused to hand over the church and stated that the issue of the ownership of the church could only be settled through reconciliation talks. A Jacobite priest said the followers of the Jacobite church would not allow the rival faction to take control of the Church. “We will not leave the Church,” he said.

The Orthodox faction reached the Church to take its possession after the Kerala High Court directed the police to provide protection to their priests to conduct religious services in the church. The court gave the order on a petition by the Orthodox faction of the church, seeking police protection to conduct mass and prayers in the church.

There was a huge deployment of police and fire force personnel in front of the church. The Orthodox group and its members sat under a tent in front of the main gate leading to the church compound, vowing to launch an agitation if the church was not formally handed to them.

Even though the Supreme Court had in 2017 allowed the Orthodox faction to offer prayers at the church, members belonging to the rival faction allegedly prevented them from entering it.

The Orthodox faction had moved the High Court after the state government failed to implement the apex court’s order.

The police, meanwhile, tried to negotiate between the two factions but remained unsuccessful. It said that it was next to impossible to implement the SC verdict in the present scenario, as the forced implementation of the verdict might lead to a gunfight, informed the police.

The dispute between the two Christian factions are not new, in fact, it is about a century old. Last year, the situation at the Piravom Valiyapalli remained tensed after one member of the Jacobite faction threatened to jump off the Church building, while others poured kerosene over their heads and threatened to set themselves alight, as police then too tried to implement the SC verdict.

The Piravom Valiyapalli is one of the many churches, which has been a part of the heightened dispute over the church administration ever since the SC ruling. As per a government-submitted report, there are 2600 families under the Piravom Church.

The animosity between the two factions is so severe that last month a Jacobite family in Kerala in Kochi handed over the mortal remains of 86-year-old Sara Varkey, a member of St John’s Church, to Ayurveda medical college after the Jacobite and Orthodox factions in the Malankara Church kept fighting over the burial ritual.

As per reports, the family took the decision after the Orthodox faction refused to allow the Jacobite priest from conducting the funeral prayers as per the family wishes.

The Orthodox faction controls the Church and when the family was conducting the last rites, some members of the Orthodox faction began arguing with the family. The family, which didn’t want to part of the fight decided to donate the body to Ayurveda medical college instead.

In another incident this year, a Jacobite woman was emotionally blackmailed to convert to Orthodox faction, so that her Jacobite mother can be burried at the family crypt in the cemetery of the St. Thomas Orthodox Church in Nechoor, Ernakulam. This church also originally belonged to the Jacobite faction, but was handed over to Orthodox following the Supreme Court verdict.

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