Dalits denied entry to temple in Villupuram, three assaulted

Villupuram: Tension prevails at Melpathi village in Villupuram district as dalits haven’t been allowed entry for the annual temple festival, on for 10 days ago now. The issue snowballed when three siblings were denied entry into the Sri Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman Temple by the dominant caste on Friday and were allegedly assaulted.

The Hindu religious and charitable endowments department took over administrative control of the temple three years ago.

“We hosted talks with the two communities. Both parties gave complaints and counter complaints but asked not to register a case as they decided to resolve the issue within a couple of days. We have posted a heavy posse of police in the village,” said Villupuram SP N Shreenatha on Monday.

The dominant caste lodged a complaint that dalits were harassing girls from their community. The dalits complained that the dominant caste assaulted three siblings from their community for attempting to enter the temple.

Dalits had not been allowed into the temple for the last 70 years. The dominant caste numbers around 3,000 in the village where dalits number less than 1,000.

Courtesy : TOI

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