New Delhi: Caste Hindus in a Tamil Nadu hamlet have handed over the idol of a damaged local temple on Wednesday (August 21) following intervention by local revenue officials in a case where police have invoked the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the New Indian Express reported.
This comes after the local revenue divisional officer chaired a peace meeting between the hamlet’s caste Hindus and Dalits on Monday, where caste Hindus were asked to hand over the temple’s idol and the front door of its sanctum sanctorum, The Hindu reported.
According to news reports, a caste Hindu man named Loganathan was allegedly involved in demolishing parts of the temple, located in Vellore district’s Gemmankuppam hamlet, earlier this month following a dispute between the hamlet’s Dalits and its caste Hindus.
TNIE cited S. Naveen Kumar – a Dalit man who is the complainant in the case – as well as its sources as saying that while Dalits were asked by caste Hindus not to take part in the hamlet’s Aadi festivities, they celebrated the festival at the temple in question anyway on August 2.
The Hindu reported that a car procession for the festivities was planned in the hamlet and cited Naveen Kumar as saying that caste Hindus objected to the procession passing through streets in the hamlet’s Dalit colony.
The newspaper also cited local caste Hindus as saying they objected to this as taking the procession through the Dalit colony would have been too time-consuming, as opposed to the usual practice of taking it through the hamlet’s ‘key stretches and intersections’.
At any rate, the temple in question, which was reportedly primarily used by Dalits in the past, was partly demolished on August 6 and its idol taken. TNIE reported that the demolition took place in the presence of police personnel.
Local police have registered a case against Loganathan under the SC/ST Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 for allegedly demolishing the temple, which was on public land, The Hindu said.
Vellore’s district collector V.R. Subbulaxmi ordered a seven-member committee be formed to oversee the temple’s functioning, The Hindu also reported.
The committee will include the local deputy tehsildar, the revenue inspector, the village school headmaster and the village administrative officer.
The returned idol is scheduled to be consecrated on Thursday.
TNIE reported that Loganathan was yet to be apprehended as of Thursday morning.
