Kerala high court rebukes TDB for ‘VIP darshan’ to actor Dileep at Sabarimala shrine

A bench of justices Anil K Narendran and Muralee Krishna S, which examined the CCTV footage of the shrine on Dec 5, said the incident was “very, very serious”

KOCHI: The Kerala high court Thursday admonished the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which administers the Sabarimala shrine, for providing ‘VIP darshan’ to actor Dileep that led to pilgrims being virtually blocked from getting darshan of the deity for several minutes.

The TDB told the high court that it had already issued a show cause notice to the officers, including the two guards

A bench of justices Anil K Narendran and Muralee Krishna S, which examined the CCTV footage of the shrine on December 5, said the incident was “very, very serious”.

“What is the privilege such persons are having?” the court asked the TDB and the police, ordering the authorities to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future.

Referring to the CCTV footage, the high court said the movement of the pilgrims through the first row in front of the ‘sopanam’ was blocked from the southern side by the guards on duty around 10:58 pm as soon as the actor entered the area. The actor was seen in the footage remaining at the ‘sopanam’ for around seven minutes.

The TDB told the high court that it issued showcase notices to officials concerned including the two guards responsible for regulating the movement of the pilgrims in front of the Sopanam.

The bench said, “we deem it appropriate to direct the Travancore Devaswom Board and the Chief Police Coordinator to take necessary steps to ensure such privileges for remaining in front of the Sopanam of Sabarimala Sannidhanam for a considerably long time by blocking darshan of pilgrims was not extended to any pilgrim.”

The court directed TDB and chief police coordinator to ensure that “such things are not repeated at Sabarimala Sannidhanam” and listed the matter for hearing on Friday.

The court had taken up the issue on its own following news reports of the special treatment extended to the actor during the ongoing annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage when there is a massive rush of devotees to the shrine each day from Kerala and its neighbouring states.