Thiruvananthapuram: Sivagiri Mutt President Swami Satchidananda, on Thursday, voiced support for former Kerala Chief Minister AK Antony in the wake of criticism against the UDF government over alleged police brutality at the pilgrim centre of Sree Narayana Guru in 1995. Speaking to Manorama News, Swami Satchidananda asserted that the Antony government had only implemented a High Court order through the police. He added that the action was unavoidable.

“In 1994, Swami Prakasananda won the elections in the Mutt. But the group administering the Mutt refused to hand over power to him. Following this, his faction approached the High Court and won a judgement in their favour. However, the ruling group refused to obey the court order. Consequently, the court directed the government to implement its order,” recalled the head of the Mutt.

Commenting on the lathi charge at the Mutt, Swami Sachidananda said that he thought the police action was necessary, as Swami Prakasananda and his group were being blocked from taking over power.

“The government was obliged to implement the court order. The police were deployed to the Mutt only to enforce the court’s directive,” he added, backing the AK Antony government.

He made this statement after Antony held a press conference on Wednesday to justify his government’s actions at Sivagiri Mutt and Muthanga. The veteran Congress leader came with an explanation after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other LDF MLAs raised the issue of police atrocities under the UDF governments during the debate on the adjournment motion moved by the UDF on custodial torture. CPI MLA E Chandrasekharan had made a specific reference to A K Antony in his speech in the assembly.

On October 11, 1995, police resorted to a lathi charge to control an angry mob at Sivagiri Mutt. According to Justice V Bhaskaran Nambiar commission probing the alleged violence at the mutt, over 1,500 people were present when police arrived to assist Swami Prakasananda in taking over the administration. The report found that outsiders gathered at the Mutt had pelted stones at the police, leading to the lathi charge. A large number of people, including 59 monks and 48 cops, were injured in the incident.

The Antony government deployed police to the Mutt after the then Additional Director General of Prosecutions K C Peter assured the court that all obstructions for the implementation of the court's order would be removed. The High Court had slammed the police, expressing the strongest judicial disapproval of their conduct. It indicated that contempt proceedings may have to be initiated against the police, according to the commission report. The displeasure of the High Court was communicated by Peter to the Police Headquarters and intimated that the Rural SP, Thiruvananthapuram, should take the necessary steps to implement the order of the High Court without further delay on or before August 25, 1995.