TN temple remains sealed after Dalits are denied entry

The local tahsildar had more than a month ago organised the peace committee meeting where it was agreed by all communities that people from the scheduled caste (SC) will be allowed inside the temple to pray with others.

Chennai: A temple in Tamil Nadu’s Salem district remained sealed for the third day on Wednesday after a section of a backward caste community prevented the entry of Dalits into the temple, police said.

Police officials say they have not registered an FIR over denial of temple entry to Dalits in Tamil Nadu’s Salem district . (HT Archives)

The Sakthi Mariamman temple in Salem comes under the state’s Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department.

“For years, Dalits have prayed by standing outside of the temple,” said a police official from the Nangavalli police station. There are about 350 families from the Dalit community in Virudasampatti village.

“Till now they have entered the temple. Since it is an old temple, it was renovated recently. After that a peace committee meeting was held in the village where everyone agreed that they (Dalits) need not stand outside like before and can come in and pray with everyone,” the police official said.

The local tahsildar had more than a month ago organised the peace committee meeting where it was agreed by all communities that people from the scheduled caste (SC) will be allowed inside the temple to pray with others. “But on Sunday, on the 48th day of the pooja, the backward caste community, mostly women, prevented the Dalits from entering the temple,” the official said.

Local revenue department officials and the police sealed the temple on the night of December 25 over this issue. “We want to prevent any untoward law and order situation, so 12 police officials have been assigned to monitor the temple in the morning and another dozen during night,” the official quoted above said.

Police officials say they have not registered an FIR in the case. The next course of action will be initiated by the HR and CE department.

Efforts to get a response from the HR&CE department failed.

In December, there have been at least three reported instances of atrocities against Dalits in Tamil Nadu. On December 4, a 102-year-old deceased Dalit woman was not allowed to be buried in a common burial ground in Coimbatore’s rural area. Last week, a school head mistress in Erode district was booked for making schedule caste students clean a toilet, and a salon owner in Thanjavur district was arrested for refusing to give haircuts to men belonging to the schedule caste.

In Erode, police on December 3 arrested Geetha Rani, the headmistress of a panchayat union primary school in Perundurai. She had gone absconding after she was booked for making six scheduled caste students from various classes to clean toilets for one year. Police found blisters in the hands of the children because they were made to use bleaching powder for cleaning. On December 2, police arrested the salon owner, Veeramuthu, in Thanjavur for refusing haircuts to men from the Dalit community.