http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/Open-up-Tirupur-Temple-for-Dalits-or-Face-Action-NCSC/2014/01/18/article2005954.ece
Open up Tirupur Temple for Dalits or Face Action: NCSC By Express News Service - CHENNAI Published: 18th January 2014 07:44 AM Last Updated: 18th January 2014 07:44 AM The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has ordered the head of Social Justice and Human Rights (SJ & HR) unit of police to throw open the Uthampalayam Mariamman Temple in Tirupur district for Dalits. Chiding the Director General of Police (SJ & HR) for inaction on the issue of attacks on Dalits, especially people belonging to Arunthatiyar community living in Uthamapalayam, the NCSC in its communique, dated January 9, observed that it was pursuing the case with Tirupur Collector, Superintendent of Police and Dharapuram RDO. Warning of legal consequences if the matter was delayed, the NCSC said that it would invoke the section 4 of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, for wilful negligence of duty by public servants. “Even after repeated instructions, the District Administation has not taken any steps to open the temple. The temple should be opened up immediately for the public and the rights of Dalits should be restored,” the orders read. The Mariamman temple in Uthamapalyam is around 600 years old. It was taken over by HR & CE in 1964. In 1987, the caste Hindus created the Uthama Mariamman Trust and began managing the affairs of the temple till 2004. Dalits were barred from entering the temple. On January 14, 2005, Dalits along with officials had staged a temple entry. However, citing that the entry had tainted the holiness of the deity, a section of caste Hindus took away jewels and other articles from the temple and built a new temple and installed another deity by the same name. When the caste Hindus decided to consecrate the new temple on October 21, 2010, the district administration called for a peace meeting, following which caste Hindus agreed to let dalits attend the ceremony. However, on the day of consecration, around 200 dalits on the way to the temple were intercepted and beaten up. Ever since then, dalits have been denied entry to the temple. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
