Child Rights commission files case against Kuthiyottam ritual

Trivandrum (Kerala): The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has registered a case against the 'Kuthiyottam' ritual performed during Attukal Pongala festival.

The case has been registered on the basis of media reports.

Kuthiyottam performed as part of the Pongala festival by young boys, who are made to undergo penance. At the end of the ritual, an iron hook is pierced into the bodies of young boys, the DGP (Prisons) R Sreelekha said in a blog post on Tuesday.

The Commission will examine if any child rights violation took place during the ritual.

The reports have come after Sreelekha in her blog titled - 'Time to Stop this Yearly Crime in the Name of Faith!' had said "While women of certain age groups are banned near Sabarimala, men of every age group throng around Attukal Temple during 'Pongala.' So, hardly akin to Sabarimala! But what about children? Can we call it Boy's Prison Cell?"

Speaking to ANI on Thursday Sreelekha condemned the ritual while dubbing it a 'gruesome practice'.

"I want to stop this archaic and gruesome practice (Kuthiyottam) where bodies of young boys are pierced. I stand by to what I have said and don't care what the temple authorities," R Sreelekha told ANI.

Meanwhile, secretary of Attukal Temple Trust in Trivandrum said that Sreelekha has commented on the ceremony without acknowledging any facts.

"Without knowing the actual facts of the ceremony the officer has made an allegation. We have no comments on the ceremony (Kuthiyottam), it is being followed from the time of our forefather," S Nair, Secretary of Attukal Temple Trust, told ANI.