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Family fined ₹ 60,000 after Dalit boy touches idol in Kolar, 8 booked
The boy’s mother Shobha, in her complaint to the police, said that the holy stick fell down during the procession and her son Chethan lifted it and handed it over to the leaders.
Karnataka police have booked eight persons for imposing a ₹60,000 fine on a Dalit boy’s family after he reportedly touched the idol at the Bhutamma temple at Ullerahalli in Malur taluk of Kolar district.
According to police, during a village fair on September 18, a 15-year-old boy had touched the village Goddess Bhootamma’s idol while it was being taken out on a procession. A day later, a former gram panchayat vice-president’s husband identified as Venkateshappa and a gram panchayat member Narayana Swamy among others summoned the boy’s mother Shobha and reportedly asked her to pay ₹60,000 as her son had “defiled the deity”.
The family approached Dalit welfare organisation Ambedkar Seva Samithi state unit head KM Sandesh. The organisation took the family to the police station and lodged a complaint.
The boy’s mother Shobha, in her complaint to the police, said that the holy stick fell down during the procession and her son Chethan lifted it and handed it over to the leaders.
“Narayana Swamy, Venkateshappa and another accused Ramesh, who is a temple committee member thrashed my son. They directed us to clean the temple and paint it as my son defiled its sanctity. They also warned that our family would be boycotted if the ₹60,000 fine amount was not paid before October 1. They threatened that they will not spare us,” read her complaint.
On Wednesday, the Kolar police booked a suo moto case against the Gram Panchayat members and village elders under the provisions of the Protection of Civil Rights Act.
“We have lodged a complaint and the eight men booked in the case are currently absconding. We will find them. We have also held a peace meeting in the village to ensure law and order,” said a senior police officer, who did not want to be named.
In a similar incident, on May 30, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC were imposed in two villages in Yadigir district in Karnataka after a Dalit family entered a temple with police protection. Eight members of the Dalit family from Shorapur taluk of Yadgir had entered the Anjaneya temple in Amalihal village in Hunsagi taluk of the district and performed the tonsuring ceremony for their child, despite the opposition from the ‘upper’ castes.
Last year on September 21, a Dalit family was fined ₹ 25,000 after a two-year-old ran into a temple in Miyapur village. Upper caste members sought the money for purification rituals but the district administration intervened and warned them.
