Guard of honour at religious rituals to stay

Practice to continue for time being, says Vasavan. Home dept had decided to do away with it at September meet

- VARSHA SOMARAJ @T'Puram

The state government will not implement its decision to abolish police guard of honour at religious ceremonies, for the time being, Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan has said.

"The practice will continue. Though a direction was made earlier, it has not been implemented. Any future decision on the matter will be taken only after consultation with temple authorities," he told TNIE.

Currently, the guard of honour is performed at about 20 temples in the Tranvancore-Cochin region. These include the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple (for festivals and processions), Thiruvallam Vellayani Devi Temple, Haripad Subrahmanya Temple, Tripunithura Poornathrayeesa Temple, Ernakulam Shiva Temple, Palluruthy Alangad Bhagavathy Temple, Thrissur Oorakam Ammathiruvadi Temple and Thriprayar Sree Rama Temple.