'Friendship beyond religion': Kerala temple doesn't conduct pujas for two days to mourn death of Muslim boy

At a time when ‘intolerance’ (especially towards different religions) has become the buzz word, a Kerala temple has taken the path of inclusiveness by stopping their pujas for two days after a 23-year-old Muslim boy was beaten to death and a video capturing the incident went viral. The Indian Express reports that MV Shabeer, who was a member of an organising committee of the annual festival at the Shiva temple at Puthennada, was beaten to death on Sunday after an altercation over an elephant running amok during the festival last year. [caption id=“attachment_2613994” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] There was no blowing of conch shells and ringing of bells for two days as well. The Indian Express quoted a member of the committee N Unni as saying, “It was a friendship beyond religion, We never considered Shabeer as a Muslim in the temple committee.” The report says that the attack on Shabeer happened because the four accused had caused the elephants to go amok during the festival last year by using needles to prick the animals. Shabeer had complained to the police and since then the four men had held a grudge against him. According to a report by NDTV, there was a 49 second video of the assault recorded by a passer by of the four men beating Shabeer with sticks on Sunday. Shabeer was later taken to a hospital where he died. The four men have been arrested.