Koppal: Five people were taken into custody on Wednesday including a priest for allegedly fining Rs. 25000 to a Dalit family for ‘sanitising’ a temple Miyapura village in Karnataka’s Koppal district, after their two-year-old son entered the temple.
Based on a complaint filed by the Social Welfare Assistant Director Balachandra, five people — Kanakappa Poojari, Hanuma Gowda, Gavi Siddappa Myageri, Virupaksha Gowda Myageri and Sharana Gowda– have been taken into custody by the Kustagi Police.
Various section the Indian Penal Code and under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act), have been charged on the five accused in the Kushtagi Police station.
According to T Sreedhara, Superintendent of Police, Koppal, a villager Chandrashekhar belonging to the Channadasara community was on Tuesday asked to pay ₹ 25,000 after his four-year-old son entered the Anjaneya Temple on his birthday.
Interestingly, the police had held a ‘peace’ meeting with the communities in the village to end the controversy and the victim’s father was reluctant to file a complaint as he feared his family would face more danger from the villagers.
The toddler entered the temple on September 4 when his family had taken him there to offer prayers for his birthday. The child ran inside the temple premises when his father was praying. Temple priest and locals tooks objection to this and imposed a fine on the family on September 11.
According to the police the Dalits, belonging to the Channadasar community. After the incident came to light, members of the Channadasar community held protests and approached the police. The family had refused to lodge a police complaint to avoid disrupting the harmony of the village.
The Channadasara community was ordered by upper-caste villagers to pay fines of ₹ 25,000 for the boy’s entry into the temple and ₹ 11,000 to sanitize the temple, the police official said.
Upper caste villagers said that the incident took place due to a “misunderstanding”.
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