New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: The vexed long-standing feud between the Malankara Orthodox and the Jacobite Churches took a new turn on Thursday when the Supreme Court set aside the directions of the Kerala High Court and asked them to take a fresh decision on the contempt petitions which had directed the state authorities to take over the possession of six churches from the latter faction and hand them over to the former faction with police help.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh directed the division bench of the High Court that there was a need to determine the true effect of the previous judgments of the Supreme Court in the church dispute and to ascertain which are the parties bound by those decisions.
“It seems to us that the High Court, while entertaining the contempt proceedings, need to determine some of the relevant issues, including, What is the true import of the decisions of this court? Who are the parties who shall be bound by the dictum of this court? Whether the decree which attained finality has been satisfied/fulfilled, if not, which part of the decree remains unfulfilled and what remedial action in that regard is required to be taken? What is the legal impact of The Kerala Right to Burial of Corpse in Christian (Malankara-Orthodox- Jacobite) Cemeteries Act, 2020 on the pending contempt petitions? Should the High Court in a dispute relating to religious affairs direct the civil administration to take over a religious place and to what extent is such an intervention desirable in the public interest?” it maintained.
The bench further pointed out that, “since we find that all the said questions require fresh consideration by the High Court, we remit the matter to the division bench to decide the fate of contempt petitions afresh after hearing all parties concerned”.
The apex court also clarified that the interim exception given to the state’s officers from appearance in the contempt petitions would continue to operate.
It was very particular about the High Court’s judgment on the issues and expressed concerns about police intervention.
“We hope you will appreciate why we are sending the matter back…let’s hope the court will find some mechanism…police force help, police going inside the religious place is what is bothering us. That’s why we are hoping the HC would find out some mechanism,” stated Justice Surya Kant.
A non-Catholic Christian community in Kerala, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church has two factions – the majority Orthodox, who have their headquarters in Kottayam, and the Jacobites, who consider the Patriarch of Antioch in Beirut as their supreme leader. The community first split into Orthodox and Jacobite in 1912, but following a Supreme Court ruling, it came together in Kottayam for a brief period between 1958 and 1970. Since 1970, they have been at war over control of churches. After decades of trial, the apex court gave its final verdict in 2017.
Consequently, the Orthodox faction has been taking control over churches now run by the Jacobite faction. While the Orthodox faction has already taken over a few churches on directions from the High Court after the police were given specific instructions, in some churches, the Jacobite faction has been unrelenting. In terms of numbers, the Orthodox Church is a much bigger entity than the Jacobite Church.
(IANS)
