Kerala temple cancels daily rituals to mourn death of Muslim youth

Shabeer was beaten to death by 4 men last week and the incident was captured in a video that went viral.

Thiruvananthapuram

: In a rare gesture, a temple in Thiruvananthapuram decided to put its daily rituals on hold for 2 days to mourn the death of a Muslim youth, who was beaten to death here earlier last week.

23- year-old M V Shabeer was an active member of the local Shiva temple at Puthennada near Attingal, and was the executive member of the festival committee in the temple. In a gruesome incident that was captured in video and shared widely in Facebook, Shabeer was beaten to death by four men last week following a dispute regarding an elephant running amok during last year’s festival.

The temple has also decided to do away with the annadanam and procession for the ten-day festival, that is set top begin on February 9.

“Since the priest wanted the temple to be opened, we did so on Monday and Tuesday but suspended the pujas. There was no blowing of the conch or the ringing of bells in those days. In the evenings too, the temple opened but did not offer any puja,” The Indian Express quoted the convenor of the festival committee, C Gouri Chandra, as saying.

According to local residents, Shabeer had been struggling to provide for his family- a mother and two younger brothers - after his father abandoned them. He even discontinued his education to support them, the report said, and added that the mosque that Shabeer was linked to never had any issues with him being a member of the temple committee.

Summing up, N Unni, another member of the temple committee said, “It was a friendship beyond religion. We never considered Shabeer as a Muslim in the temple committee”.