Thrissur: The picture of a 'Brahmins only' toilet in a local temple in Kerala's Thrissur district triggered a social media storm recently with many calling it a regressive practice.

The management of the Kuttumukku Mahadeva Temple had to remove the signboard soon after the picture of three toilets, with boards showing 'Men', 'Women' and 'Brahmins' went viral.

The toilets are situated outside the temple's main campus.

Sharing the photo, many social media users called it an unethical practise which would put the progressive state in a bad light.

As the controversy broke, the temple officials said the toilets were located outside the main campus and the board came to their notice only now.

Kannan, an official of the temple committee who is also a CPI-M functionary and ward councillor, said the board was placed nearly two decades ago and nobody raised any complaint against it so far.

"That particular toilet was used by priests and other temple employees. We didn't even notice that board...as soon as we came to know about it, we removed it and affixed a staff-only board," he told PTI.

Kannan said the shrine and its management were against all kinds of unethical customs.

The temple official said they were planning to pursue legal measures against the man who posted the photo of the toilets on the social media.

A particular individual had shared the photo on the social media platforms at the time of the recently concluded temple festival.

"We suspect that he did it deliberately to create issues during the time of the festival and to tarnish the shrine's reputation. Not only that, the photo he shared was an old one though he claimed that it was taken during the time of the festival, " he said.

(With inputs from PTI)