CHIKKAMGALURU: With Gerumaradi villagers denying entry to Dalits into the village, leaders of Dalit outfits from across the state arrived in Tarikere on Tuesday and staged a protest before the taluk office.
Under tight police security, they entered the village and broke open the door of Ranganatha Swamy temple and offered puja.
It may be recollected here that a Dalit backhoe driver was assaulted by community people for snapping a cable wire during a demolition drive and was fined for entering the village. This incident took place at the Gerumaradi Gollarahatti settlement on January 1. Under the Atrocity Act, a case was registered by Tarikere police and an FIR was registered against 15 attackers. Four of them were arrested too.
Dalits staged a protest and tension prevailed in the village. Alleging that their settlement was desecrated by the entry of Dalits, village heads locked up Ranganatha Swamy temple, stopping puja rituals. Even schoolchildren coming from other villages are said to have asked to come without government-given shoes or slippers. BEO Govindappa visited the school and enquired about the matter.
Superstition still prevalent
Traditional practices based on age-old superstitious beliefs are still prevalent in some community settlements. Girls of the community, who attain puberty and married women, who undergo monthly menstrual periods, are banished and will be put outside in sheds for a certain period, thinking that
they are impure.