Temple in Villupuram sealed post opposition to entry of SC community

VILLUPURAM: Revenue officials in Tamil Nadu 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 peace talks between the representatives of a dominant caste and SC members failed recently, a senior official said. The dominant caste members have been protesting against the entry of SC people into the temple for darshan while the latter insisted upon their right to enter.

Not wanting the harmony in the village to be breached, the district administration convened peace talks between the two sections to resolve the issue. However, the negotiations failed as the dominant community declined to budge from their stand.

Anticipating trouble, the RDO ordered the temple to be sealed under Section 145(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to prevent any possible breakdown of law and order.

A posse of police has been deployed at the temple to prevent any violent incidents.