Bali rituals: Case registered against around 100 people at Varakkal

Vellayil police has registered a case against around 100 people who can be identified on sight, in connection with offering ‘Bali’ at the Varakkal Beach in Kozhikode on Sunday, August 8, 2021. Police sources said that the priests who direct the rituals were given instructions not to hold the rituals on the Varakkal Beach, but several people had assembled there in the early hours of the day to perform the rituals. The police intervened and stopped the possible crowding and booked the case under Epidemic Diseases Amendment Act 2020. There are also reports that fishermen at Vellayil had put up stalls to sell ‘Bali’- related supplies.

Meanwhile, P. Raghunath, State Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded police to repeal the case and threatened a public uprising against the government. In a social media statement, Mr. Raghunath alleged that the incident showed that the State government had different ideas of justice for different religions and that the case against the believers at Varakkal was an intervention into religious beliefs.

Radhakrishnan Nambiar, a priest for Bali rituals at Varakkal for over a decade, said that he had overseen the rituals at a few houses, but faced difficulty in letting the Bali materials flow. He had managed to throw the materials into the sea privately.

However, thousands performed the rituals without any problems in the peace of their homes across the district. “I have been performing the rituals at popular spots for a long time. This year I did it at home and left the materials for the crows”, Goutham V.K. from Puthiyara in the city said.

At the same time, Mr. Nambiar said that those who could not perform the rituals on the Karkidaka Vavu day could opt for Thila Homam or Sayoojya Pooja at any temple to compensate.