Tamil Nadu: Dalit boy thrashed for entering a temple

http://www.modernrationalist.com/2011/july/page05.html

Temple priest Jambunatha Gurukkakl, 48, had left a plate of ‘vibuthi’ at the entrance. Vinith took a pinch of ‘vibuthi’ for his sister when the priest returned and confronted them asking Vinith where he lived. When the boy said he was from the Adidravidar colony at Nadur, Jambunathan slapped him repeatedly for entering the temple.

Sruthi was shocked and screamed for help. Then, Jambunathan’s son Sugavanam ran in and joined in beating up Vinith. The priest and his son asked them to leave after warning them to stay away from the temple.

Vinit does not sound like a Tamil name.

The government should simply shut that temple down.

Rishi wrote:Vinit does not sound like a Tamil name.

The government should simply shut that temple down.

Rishi,
If you notice this story is from 2011. Rashmun is posting this trying to divert attention away from the misdeeds of a Pakistani Muslim on a Muslim boy in the premises of a Mosque.

His Muslim mind, never tries to fix what is inherent wrong in their religion. His standard response is to dust up some story years old and post it.

Dont bother even responding. My standard procedure is to just ignore it.

Comical!

>>>I cannot believe this shit is happening in 2014.

I bet that within a few months Vinit will either become a Christian or a Muslim. I would not fault him for doing so.

Rashmun wrote:http://www.modernrationalist.com/2011/july/page05.html

Temple priest Jambunatha Gurukkakl, 48, had left a plate of ‘vibuthi’ at the entrance. Vinith took a pinch of ‘vibuthi’ for his sister when the priest returned and confronted them asking Vinith where he lived. When the boy said he was from the Adidravidar colony at Nadur, Jambunathan slapped him repeatedly for entering the temple.

Sruthi was shocked and screamed for help. Then, Jambunathan’s son Sugavanam ran in and joined in beating up Vinith. The priest and his son asked them to leave after warning them to stay away from the temple.

The story reported by TOI:

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JQ0gvMjAxMS8wNS8yOSNBcjAwMTA1

Wait...aren't you a self-proclaimed upper caste brahmin too and also claimed a brahrmin last name the other day?

You should be sending these new items to your kith and kin in India and tell them to behave.

A PALL of gloom has descended on T. Kallipatti, a predominantly Dalit village in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district, where a 22-year-old Dalit priest committed suicide on December 7 after he was allegedly subjected to a witch-hunt by caste Hindus.

The Dalits of T. Kallipatti and several other villages in the district are agitated over the suicide of S. Nagamuthu, who played a major role in the renovation and maintenance of a local temple.

Demonstrations and road roko agitations were held in the area, seeking police intervention to bring all those behind the tragedy to book. Posters have appeared in some villages flaying the “casteists” who drove the youth to death.

Nagamuthu was the son of a farmhand. A suicide note purportedly written by him blamed seven persons, including three caste Hindus, for his death. Among them are some politically influential persons. Accusing the police of not providing security to him and his family, the youth said that he was ending his life to ensure the safety of his family.

Local residents felt Nagamuthu must have taken this extreme step as he was systematically sidelined by casteist elements, who debarred him from entering the Kailasanathar temple, built several years ago on a hillock near the village. It was Nagamuthu who took the initiative seven years ago to renovate the temple, which was in a bad shape. Apart from assisting a priest in conducting pujas, he himself shouldered the responsibility in the absence of the former.

However, shortly after the hill shrine was renovated a couple of years ago and devotees started visiting it, the temple administration members dropped Nagamuthu like a hot potato. They even advised him to keep off, particularly on auspicious occasions, as caste Hindus would be reluctant to visit the temple when a Dalit was present during ceremonies, the victim’s father, N. Subburaj, alleged.

Nagamuthu ignored the advice, and he was assaulted by some persons on May 5. The local police did not register a first information report though he lodged a complaint with them. Some caste Hindus, in “connivance” with the police, brought pressure on Nagamuthu and his family to withdraw the complaint.

However, Nagamuthu, with the help of the Madurai-based NGO Evidence, moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. Following a court directive on August 31, the Thenkarai police registered a case on September 2 under Sections 294(b), 323, 506(1) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3(1)(x) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. But the threats and intimidation continued. There was even a bid on his life, Subburaj alleged.

According to M. Andiappan, Oor Thalaivar (community leader), the village has a sizeable number of educated persons belonging to the oppressed caste. Several of them are traders, contractors or government employees, though farm workers form the major chunk of the population. As awareness among the Dalits has been rising steadily, they are no longer prepared to put up with the discrimination and insults.

As a mark of protest, Nagamuthu’s parents and relatives did not receive his body for five days. He was buried in T. Kallipatti village on December 12. The police have registered a case of abetment to suicide and arrested one person. Another accused has surrendered before a Madurai court.

http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2926/stories/20130111292613001.htm

Uttarakhand village tense after dalits refused temple entry
Kautilya Singh,TNN | Apr 9, 2014, 10.08 PM IST

DEHRADUN: Weeks ahead of Lok Sabha polls, tension gripped the remote Kanora village of Kashipur after a group of Dalit women were allegedly denied entry into a temple to offer prayers.

On a complaint from the Dalits, senior police officials rushed to the village and ensured that the "pooja" by Dalit women was performed, in the presence of a police team....

The police official said a group of Dalit women went to offer prayers in the temple on the last day of Navratra, but they were denied entry by members of Saini Samaj. The religious ceremony was later carried out with police presence, he said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-village-tense-after-dalits-refused-temple-entry/articleshow/33516082.cms

Even as Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi goes on showcasing his state as a case study in development, the centuries-old evil practice of not allowing Dalits to enter temples still plagues a village in Ahmedabad district.
Even as Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi goes on showcasing his state as a case study in development, the centuries-old evil practice of not allowing Dalits to enter temples still plagues a village in Ahmedabad district.

Around 100 Dalit families of Galsana village in Dhandhuka taluka are testimony to the backwardness that still prevails the state in many areas of social life. Upper caste members of the village do not allow them to enter the premises of village temples.

The village has five temples, including a Swaminarayan temple, and Dalits have never stepped inside any of them.

However, on February 4, four Dalit families decided to enter the premises of the Swaminarayan temple and asked for police protection for the same. They chose that day as the village had planned pran-pratishthan of Lord Swaminarayan after the reconstruction of the 22-year-old temple located in the middle of the village.

The invitations sent out for the event were the last straw for the Dalits as the temple management had made separate seating arrangements for SCs at the mass feast.

“However, on February 4, the temple authorities and villagers ensured that the temple remained closed to prevent us from entering it,” Sunil Parmar, a Dalit, said.

Swami Krishna Vallabh, the Mahant Swami of Muli Swaminarayan Temple in Surendranagar and chief organiser of the event, conceded that the event had indeed been cancelled. “We had to cancel it as the other villagers were unhappy with the idea of Dalits entering the temple,” he said.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-no-entry-for-dalits-in-gujarat-temple-1798612

Chennai: Even in this e-age, the Dalits of Kancheepuram had to wage a month-long ‘war’ to gain entry into a temple. They were not allowed by the dominant caste to participate in the annual festival of the 80-year-old Adanchiamman temple last month.

It was only after the intervention of the Tamil Nadu untouchablity eradication front (TNUEF) that the Dalits were able to offer worship there last Friday. However, Murugan, a 32-year-old Dalit vegetable vendor, who had led the temple campaign, is now in the Kanchi government hospital after assault, allegedly by the upper caste people, on Monday.

Locals say that people of a backward community had prevented the Dalits from entering the temple for many years, particularly during the annual festival. “Dalits cannot even stand near the temple tank,” said TNUEF general secretary Samuvel Raj.

He said the young Dalits this year decided to resist the discrimination and sought the help of his front, following which the issue was taken up with the district administration and the police. At last, the Dalits gained entry into the Amman temple with police protection on Friday and even celebrated the ‘victory’ by cooking sweet pongal outside the gates.

“But, on Monday, Murugan was attacked by men of that BC group while in his vegetable shop. We have admitted him to a hospital with head injuries,” said TNUEF Kanchi secretary P. Bharathi Anna, adding, “The Dalits feel threatened after this attack”.

“My husband is badly injured in the head, but he survived. I am scared the attackers may come back,” said Murugan’s young wife Muniammal, standing guard at his hospital bed.

http://archives.deccanchronicle.com/130911/news-current-affairs/article/dalit-beaten-after-temple-entry

POKHARA, FEB 27 - A Dalit couple has said that they were barred from entering a temple to organise their marriage ceremony.

Organising a press meet in Pokhara on Thursday, groom Prabin Bohara Sarki said he and his fiancée were obstructed to enter Masbar-based Pushkareshwor Temple for their wedding.

He claimed the temple management committee denied them organising wedding ceremony in the temple after they came to know that the groom and the bride were Dalit s.

The victims demanded action against the guilty. Pitambar Baral, chairman of the temple management committee, however, refused any wrongdoing. He said the management committee simply urged them to come later as they were busy carrying out rituals on the occasion of the Shivaratri festival. (PR)

http://www.ekantipur.com/2014/02/27/national/dalits-barred-from-entering-temple/385994.html

An age-old belief that entering a temple will bring them bad luck has prompted Dalits to avoid visiting the Chamundeshwari temple at Kaginahare village in Sakleshpur taluk.

Although devotees from far-off places visit the temple, Dalits residing close to the temple do not offer prayers to the deity here.

According to local residents, this tradition has been continuing for many years.

H.K. Kumaraswamy, Sakleshpur MLA, who is a Dalit, has not entered the temple so far.

When The Hindu contacted Mr. Kumaraswamy, he said he had gone to the village a couple of times, but had not visited the temple. As per the belief here, Dalits are not “acceptable” to the deity, and those who enter the temple will face difficulties. “If Dalits enter the temple premises, it is bad for them, their family, and equally harmful for those who let them in,” said Rajanna, a resident of Kaginahare, who has been nominated in-charge of the temple administration.

Even during the annual jatra in May, the police reportedly deploy constables from upper castes.

Dharmaraj, a member of the temple monitoring committee, said, “the police too are aware of this belief.”

However, some Dalit youth who are part of progressive organisations see this practice as a continuance of untouchability.

Byakaravalli Venkatesh, secretary of the Hassan district Dalit Sahitya Parishat, who hails from a village close to Kaginahare, said, “continuing this evil practice makes one believe that people from the upper castes want to treat Dalits as inferiors or untouchables.”

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/dalits-stay-away-from-this-temple-fearing-bad-luck/article5625464.ece

http://indianhomemaker.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/made-snaan-where-dalits-are-permitted-inside-the-temple/

On 21 May this year, a caste-Hindu thevar family in Thinniam branded two dalits, Murugesan and Ramasamy, with hot iron rods and forced them to feed dried human excreta to each other. After local activists of the Dalit Panthers Movement heard about the incident on 30 May, they informed a human rights activist-lawyer and sometime in mid-June a press conference was organised where the dalits presented their testimonies. The mainstream media in India, which has almost no dalit members, ignored it....

In Tamil Nadu, the Thinniam incident did not make any impression on the government, media, civil society or the mainstream intelligentsia. Most newspapers and television channels did not report it and those that did, like The Hindu, ran shy of seeming scatological and referred to it as simply "a heinous incident".

This neglect led to another Thinniam. On 7 September, Sankan, a dalit, was drinking tea with a friend at a shop in Goundampatti, Nilakottai taluq, Dindigul district when he was attacked by six caste Hindus. He was verbally abused and beaten up, after which an off-duty constable urinated in his mouth. Sankan had earned the wrath of the caste Hindu gounder community because he had aggressively pursued his right to a piece of land of which he had been cheated.

Today in the village, even the dalits appear angry with Sankan because the caste Hindus are threatening the entire community with social boycott. Peace in a village can be maintained as long as the dalits accept oppression and learn to digest urine.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?217815

A host of Dalit women, who cook food for children at noon meal centres attached to schools in various villages in Kadayampatti Union in Salem district, say they are facing a social boycott.

Caste Hindus in a few villages are preventing their children from having the noon meal cooked by Dalit women cooks, claiming that it is “a sin to eat food cooked by them.”

The government-appointed Dalit women cooks, under the MGR Nutritious Noon Meal Scheme on a temporary monthly pay of Rs. 1300-3000, are not allowed to do their job.

“I feel like dying,’ said S. Sundaravanitha, a Dalit woman cook, who had been facing boycott since her appointment on August 16, 2012.

She told The Hindu here on Friday that she said she had been undergoing trauma since the day she was appointed as a cook at the Panchayat Union Elementary School at Rasipurathan Kattuvalavu village in Kadayampatti Union.

“From day one, I have been hounded and harassed. The Vanniyars-only village feel ‘ashamed’ to permit their children to have the food cooked by a Dalit,” she said. The village panchayat president also expressed his inability to help her.

After discussing it with local officials, the Salem district administration transferred her to the centre at the Union Middle School at Mookanur, which happened to be her native village, on deputation. But her woes were far from over. Since her village people knew that she was a Dalit, they too raised the caste issue against her.

“Of the total 75 students who used to have noon meal, only 20 students, a majority of whom are Dalits, now have food at the centre. Others have been forced to abstain. A few youths barged into the centre recently and abused me in filthy language,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.

An official in Kadayampatti Union said that to prevent any untoward incident, she was shifted from Rasipurathan village. “It is a sensitive issue. This village of Vanniyars strongly opposed her.

As Mookanur has an equal share of all castes, we believed that her appointment would not create any unpleasant situation there,” he said, adding that they had been facing similar situations in two other centres in the Union.

The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi alleged that seven Dalit women cooks in Kadayampatti alone were facing social boycott.

Poomozhi of the Tamil Nadu People Rights Movement wanted action under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against those who promoted untouchability. The Democratic Youth Federation of India staged a demonstration on Saturday, demanding their arrest.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/now-the-food-they-cook-is-untouchable/article3855760.ece

Rashmun wrote:A host of Dalit women, who cook food for children at noon meal centres attached to schools in various villages in Kadayampatti Union in Salem district, say they are facing a social boycott.

Caste Hindus in a few villages are preventing their children from having the noon meal cooked by Dalit women cooks, claiming that it is “a sin to eat food cooked by them.”

The government-appointed Dalit women cooks, under the MGR Nutritious Noon Meal Scheme on a temporary monthly pay of Rs. 1300-3000, are not allowed to do their job.

“I feel like dying,’ said S. Sundaravanitha, a Dalit woman cook, who had been facing boycott since her appointment on August 16, 2012.

She told The Hindu here on Friday that she said she had been undergoing trauma since the day she was appointed as a cook at the Panchayat Union Elementary School at Rasipurathan Kattuvalavu village in Kadayampatti Union.

“From day one, I have been hounded and harassed. The Vanniyars-only village feel ‘ashamed’ to permit their children to have the food cooked by a Dalit,” she said. The village panchayat president also expressed his inability to help her.

After discussing it with local officials, the Salem district administration transferred her to the centre at the Union Middle School at Mookanur, which happened to be her native village, on deputation. But her woes were far from over. Since her village people knew that she was a Dalit, they too raised the caste issue against her.

“Of the total 75 students who used to have noon meal, only 20 students, a majority of whom are Dalits, now have food at the centre. Others have been forced to abstain. A few youths barged into the centre recently and abused me in filthy language,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.

An official in Kadayampatti Union said that to prevent any untoward incident, she was shifted from Rasipurathan village. “It is a sensitive issue. This village of Vanniyars strongly opposed her.

As Mookanur has an equal share of all castes, we believed that her appointment would not create any unpleasant situation there,” he said, adding that they had been facing similar situations in two other centres in the Union.

The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi alleged that seven Dalit women cooks in Kadayampatti alone were facing social boycott.

Poomozhi of the Tamil Nadu People Rights Movement wanted action under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against those who promoted untouchability. The Democratic Youth Federation of India staged a demonstration on Saturday, demanding their arrest.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/now-the-food-they-cook-is-untouchable/article3855760.ece

Ram said the movement had submitted reports to the state government and to the NHRC, New Delhi, on few government schools of the Seraj segment of Mandi district and Kangra district where school authorities serve mid-day meals to SC and ST students separately from the upper caste students.

“The school authorities give food to Dalit students after serving upper-class students. Moreover, Dalit students are made to sit in separate rows. It is discrimination and violation of human rights” he said.

Ram further said that the same practice was being adopted by the traditional fairs organisers. They not only cook food for them separately but earmark the space where lower and upper caste people will eat separately.

“The Mandi Shivratri fair is one of the major fair of the state and fair organizers provide common feast to the local deity's accompanists and musicians in U-Block building of Government Primary School, but cook and serve the meal separately for the Dalits. No social organization or administration officials object to the repeated discrimination,” he said.

He added that Article 17 of the Indian Constitution had abolished such practice.

“It is the duty of upper caste people to provide equal platform to celebrate religious occasion and enjoy common feast to deliver justice to downtrodden community and enable them to live with dignity and self-esteem” said Ram.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/himachalpradesh/untouchability-persist-in-schools-fairs-dalit-movement/article1-1201103.aspx

They plan to launch ‘self-respect retrieval’ movement

Mookanur Village in Kadayampatti Union in Salem district, which gained notoriety after caste Hindus refused to permit their children to have noon meal in the village’s Panchayat Union Middle School protesting against the appointment of a Dalit woman as its cook, which The Hindu and Frontline exposed, has grabbed attention – again for wrong reasons.

A group of Dalit activists accused that the abhorrent practice of ‘two-tumbler’ system (one cup for Dalits and another for others) had been in vogue in village tea shops and in eateries – all owned and run by caste Hindu Vanniyars. They further alleged that Dalits were served tea in disposable cups while all others were having it in stainless steel tumblers. While caste Hindus would be having their food sitting in the neatly arranged benches in eateries, Dalits would be forced to sit in a small stone at the far corner of the shop.

“This discrimination has been going on in the village for long. It was exposed to outside world through the issue of Sundaravanitha, the Dalit woman cook of noon meal scheme. The Revenue and Police officials of Kadayampatti Union have never taken any concrete step to sort out the issue,” said A. Murali, a Dalit activist.

Transferring Sundaravanitha from one school to another when she faced social boycott was just an act of escapism. Those who were practising the caste-based discrimination in the village and officials who remained mute witnesses to atrocities should be brought under the provisions of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, he said.

Hence he and other activists, under the banner of Mannin Mainthargal (Sons of Soil) had decided to launch a ‘self-respect retrieval’ movement at the village against the practice of social discrimination. They also submitted a detailed petition to Collector K. Maharabushanam in this regard.

Salem District administration convened an urgent peace committee meeting on Wednesday evening in which representatives from Dalit groups and Vanniyars took part.

Mettur RDO S. Suriya Prakash, Omalur DSP, Omalur Tahsildhar, Theevattipatti Police Inspector and others represented the administration. The tea stall owners of Mookanur Village claimed that they did not follow the practice of ‘two-tumbler’ system as alleged. They assured the officials that in future they would not adhere to it. A few village Dalits who took part in the meeting however said that all were served tea in disposable cups. Dalits would be permitted to sit in benches along with caste Hindus in eateries.

The officials warned tea and other eatery stall owners to ‘maintain uniform’ service to all - irrespective of caste and creed.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/dalits-decry-twotumbler-system-in-mookanur-village/article3944319.ece

A fact-finding team of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), after conducting a survey at the villages of Cuddalore district, found that the practice of untouchability has still been prevailing at some villages in various forms like double-tumbler in tea shops, refusal to cut hair in barber shops and so on.

District secretary of TNUEF P Vanjinathan said, “The team conducted survey at 47 villages in the district for a period of about one month. After finding that discrimination against Dalits is still prevailing at some villages, we have submitted a petition to the Collector and sought action.”

In the petition, they have listed six villages where double-tumbler system is in practice. “Double-tumbler system is prevailing in tea-shops at villages such as Jayangondapattinam, Kalgunam, Odakkanallur, Pazhanjanallur, Kurungudi and Su.Keeranur. Apart from this, at Kalgunam and Thathampettai villages, Dalits have not been allowed to cut their hair in the barber shops that are common for all,” he said.

At Vengadampettai and Erumanur villages, Dalits could not take part in the auctions for fishing in ponds. “Also at Yerumanur village, which is about 6 kilometers from Vriddhachalam, Dalits were not allowed to sit on the bench even in a small hotel. They have to sit on the ground,” he added.

The organisation also said in the petition that Dalits could not put towel on their shoulders at Mamangalam village, while walking through the streets of upper caste. “We want the Collector to take action against these discriminations immediately. If he fails, TNUEF will hold protests,” Vanjinathan said. CPM district secretary T Arumugam was also present while submitting the petition to collector Kirloshkumar.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/Cuddalore-still-has-two-tumbler-system/2013/10/18/article1842118.ece