Priests Of Tamil Nadu's Temple Have Been Charged Under The SC/ST Act
Update: 2022-02-18 10:45 IST
Priests in Chidambaram Nataraja temple were booked under the SC/ST Act for not allowing a woman to pray from a platform inside the temple.
Twenty priests at the Chidambaram Natarajar temple in Tamil Nadu were charged for violating the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. It occurred after preventing a scheduled caste woman from worshipping on a platform inside of the temple.
The woman who was not allowed to climb the stairs was identified as Jayasheela. The event took place on February 15th. The priests, called as dhikshitars in the area, surrounded Jayasheela and prevented her from boarding the 'Kanagasabai medai,' a platform reserved for dhiskhitars to stand and pray as a Covid-19 measure.
The dhikshitars surrounded Jayasheela and yelled at her as she attempted to climb the steps to the platform. The event was documented in several videos, which have since gone viral. A priest was also seen attempting to drag Jayasheela by her hand in the video.
When the police arrived, Jayasheela submitted a report alleging that she had been threatened and that the priests had wrongly accused her of stealing a vessel.
This is the temple's 2nd incidence of this nature. Ganesh, a dhiskhitar, had previously attempted to worship from the Kanagasabai platform. He was, however, stopped and barred from entering the temple.
A case has been launched against the 20 priests under the Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST Act, based on Jayasheela's accusation.
The regulation prohibiting devotees from praying from the Kanagasabai platform, according to Darshan, a priest who accompanied Jayasheela, was unjust and against to temple ideals. He also stated that the Chidambaram Natarajan temple has a number of such anomalies. The former AIADMK government came back the temple to the priests, that was under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department.