Kerala Police register case Against NSS Leader and Members for Unlawful gathering at Temple

The Kerala police on Thursday lodged a case against a senior leader of Nair Service Society (NSS) and its thousand identifiable members for allegedly gathering unlawfully before a temple here in protest against Speaker A N Shamseer's remarks about a Hindu deity.The case was registered at Cantonment police station against NSS Vice President Sangeeth Kumar and a thousand other identifiable persons of the organisation for the offences of unlawful assembly, rioting and obstructing public way under the IPC and various provisions of the Kerala Police Act, police said.

The action was taken on its own by the police, which said in the FIR that members of the NSS unlawfully gathered outside the Ganapathi temple at Palayam here on Wednesday evening and, without any permission, set up mikes and speakers and chanted slogans.The police also said that the protestors blocked the right of way of vehicular traffic and pedestrians and despite directions from the officers at the site to disperse from there, they did not comply with them.

The agitators carried out a 'namajapa' procession from Palayam to the Pazhavangadi Ganapathy Temple a few kilometers away.Reacting to the police action, Sangeetha Kumar said, Let law take its own course. "We were fighting to protect our faith. We will fight it legally,", he told media.Thousands of devotees had participated in the namajapa processions organised by the NSS in Thiruvananthapuram and other parts of the state on Wednesday evening.

Prior to that a large number of Hindu devotees and members of the NSS offered prayers at Lord Ganesha temples across Kerala as a mark of protest against Shamseer's remarks about the Hindu deity.The special prayers and 'namajapa' (chanting of mantras) processions were held in various districts as the NSS urged the community members to observe 'Save the Faith Day' on August 2, against the Speaker's comments.