Kochi: Twenty priests and 200 faithfuls were booked for unlawful gathering and rioting in the outside the Bishop House of Angamaly-Ernakulam archdioce on Saturday, media reports said.
Ernakulam Central Police registered two cases following the alleged ruckus outside the Bishop House of the Angamaly-Ernakulam archdiocese, the reports said.
The problem started after police tried to remove a few priests who were fasting over the dispute over unified holy mass.
This led to verbal exchange between the priests and cops following which faithfuls supporting the priests rushed to the spot and pulled up a verbal spat with police who said it was not possible to hold protests in Bishop house.
Twenty FIRs were registered against 20 priests for assaulting a cop.
The priests were protesting against disciplinary action taken against five priests for resisting the move to implement the uniform mode of holy mass in the archdiocese.
The 20 priests have been charged under Sections 189(2) (relating to unlawful assemblies), 190 and 191 (2) (relating to rioting) and 121 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS). The charges, if proven, could invite imprisonment upto five years.
The second FIR was against 200 faithfuls belonging to a group which has been challenging the move to implement the uniformed mass system. They were booked under 189(2) (relating to unlawful assemblies), 190 and 191 (2) (relating to rioting) and 285 (causing danger, obstruction or injury to any person in any public way) of BNS.
FIRs against priests, faithfuls
