Pudukkottai: HC allows 20 inter-caste couples in temple festival

MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday allowed 20 inter-caste couples to participate in a temple festival to be organised at Nallur village in Ponnamaravathi taluk of Pudukkottai district. The order was issued by Justice V Sivagnanam on a petition filed by Velu of Pudukkottai seeking permission to take part in the festival.

The petitioner stated that a majority of the people at Nallur village belong to a particular caste and they were also occupying top positions in different fora. Around 25 persons, who had married members of other castes were ostracised by the dominant caste people.

The annual festival of Bagavathy Amman Temple located in the village is held on the first Sunday of the Tamil month of Panguni.

As per practice, ‘Thalaikattu vari’ is normally collected from each and every family for the festival. Contrary to this, the local villagers did not collect the ‘Thalaikattu vari’ from the inter-caste couples and decided not to allow them to participate in the temple festival. Citing these, the petitioner sought the intervention of the court for collection of ‘Thalaikattu vari’ from inter-caste couples and permit them to attend the temple festival.

The judge, after hearing the arguments, directed the Tahsildar of Ponnamaravathi to convene a peace committee meeting to ensure the ‘Thalaikattu vari’ is collected from the inter-caste couples and also their participation in the temple festival.