Kerala’s Thrissur district administration has ordered an inquiry into reports of a prayer that was conducted in the office of a Child Protection Unit, to ward off "negative energy". The incident had allegedly occurred in the first week of September at the Thrissur unit of the Child Protection which comes under the Department of Women and Child Development of Kerala.
Thrissur Collector VR Krishna Teja has ordered the inquiry and put a Sub Collector in charge of the investigation.
The prayer was allegedly held under the instruction of the District Child Protection Officer of Thrissur, Bindu. In an interview with Manorama News, Bindu said that the prayer was conducted before office hours on a September day since a number of problems have been taking place in the office, including resignation of contract workers. The prayer was performed by a seminarian who works with Childline, the Non Governmental Organisation working with the government for the welfare of children.
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Although Bindu claimed that she had not forced anyone to take part in the prayer, a few people have raised issues with it. Reports say that a few employees, disgruntled with the DCPO's actions, had sent a complaint to the Chief Minister and the district collector, among other officials.