Temple entry issue: 1 held for assaulting dalit
TNN | Aug 20, 2023, 08.12 AM IST
Villupuram: Police arrested a man on charges of assaulting a dalit at a hotel at Melpadi village in Villupuram district on Saturday. Police said enmity prevailed between Vanniyar and dalit communities over the entry of dalit people into an ancient temple in Melpadi village. The Vanniyar community strongly objected to the entry of dalit people into the Sri Draupadi Amman temple arguing that dalit people have an exclusive temple for them. The government sealed the temple as tension mounted between dalits and vanniyars over entry into the shrine in June this year.
The revenue officials have been holding inquiries with the representatives of the two communities to resolve the issue. After one such inquiry, a dalit man went to a nearby hotel and within a few minutes, a group of five people reached the same hotel. An argument broke out between the group and dalit and the group attacked the dalit man. A team from Valavanur police station reached the spot and detained three people for inquiries. Police arrested one of them and produced them before a local court and set the two others free.
