VILLUPURAM: Revenue officials sealed the Sri Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman Temple at Melpathi village in Villupuram district on Wednesday following a dispute over the entry of Scheduled Caste members into the temple.
Villupuram Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) S Ravichandran ordered the temple to be sealed after seven rounds of peace talks between caste Hindus and SC members failed to break the impasse, a senior official said. The caste Hindu members have been protesting against the entry of SC members into the temple for darshan.
The temple comes under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department. At least 200 police have been deployed in the village to beef up security, sources said. Meanwhile, Villupuram collector C Palani on Wednesday said a final meeting will be held on Friday between the two communities to find a solution to the issue.
According to some residents, the core issues of caste discrimination and action against those who attacked K Kathiravan (21), a Dalit, on April 7, remain unresolved as no one has been arrested even 50 days after an FIR was filed in the case.
District Superintendent of Police P Shashank Sai told TNIE, “We are proceeding slowly to ensure that we don’t ratchet up the tension in the village. Caste Hindus have assured us of their cooperation. The situation is under control.”Following the attack on April 7, SC members staged a protest seeking justice. An FIR was registered five days later at Valavanur police station but no accused was arrested.
Subsequently, on May 17, SC members filed petitions with minister K Ponmudy, who pacified the petitioners and said action will be taken against those who stop Dalits from entering the temple.
The next day, however, caste Hindus staged a protest against the minister on the temple premises by dumping their ration and Aadhaar cards and reiterated their stand that they won’t allow SC community members to enter the temple.