The dawn to dusk hartal called in Ernakulam by the Muslim Ekopana Samithi was partially successful.
The organisation had called a shutdown protesting against police lathi charge on its activists during a march to the High Court on Monday.
Shops, many restaurants, business establishments and some private offices remained closed while private bus services were hit quite badly.
Kerala Road Transport Corporation owned buses and few auto rickshaws were the only public transport available in the city. Private vehicles were also running in the city.
No violence was reported from any part of the district till afternoon, other than few isolated reports about activists trying to forcibly shut shops. In the rural areas of Ernakulam district, the hartal had limited effect on commercial establishments.
On Monday, police lathicharged Muslim Ekopana Samithi members as they were protesting against a Kerala High Court order nullifying the marriage of a Muslim man and a woman. The woman had converted to Islam last year and the court had questioned the urgency with which Hadiya was married off to Shafin Jahan.
A division bench of the High Court nullified the marriage based on a habeas corpus petition filed by her father, a native of Vaikom.
Several Muslim organisations in the state took out a protest march in Kochi on Monday. Police stopped the protestors at least a kilometer away from the court, near St Albert's College. They shouted slogans there for over half an hour, and when things turned provocative, police lathicharged the protesters and used tear gas on them.