The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : CPI(M) moves High Court

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 17, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

CPI(M) moves High Court

Special Correspondent

"Allow Dalits to pull temple car " "Instead of invoking Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the district administration should have resorted to the provisions of the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 against the caste Hindus"

CHENNAI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has moved the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Sivaganga district administration to protect the religious rights of Dalits, permitting them to pull the Kandadevi temple car along with caste Hindus.

The petition, filed by Party State secretary N. Varadarajan said instead of invoking Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the administration ought to have resorted to the provisions of the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 against the caste Hindus. Though a June 1999 order of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department that all Hindus, irrespective of caste, community or creed should be entitled to take part in the car festival, the dominant caste members threatened the officials concerned with dire consequences if Dalits were allowed to pull the temple car, Mr. Varadarajan said.

Every year, in the name of ensuring law and order, hundreds of policemen formed a cordon and prevented the Dalits from pulling the temple car.

A Collector and the Superintendent of Police who had tried to enforce the order by permitting the Dalits and caste Hindus to proceed together for pulling the car were transferred at the behest of some members of the ruling party.

Pointing out that the car festival was scheduled to be held later this month, Mr. Varadarajan wanted the respondent-officials to be directed to discharge their duties under the Articles 17, 21 and 14 of the Constitution. He wanted the court to ensure that the Dalits were permitted to participate in the festival.

The petition, along with a pending one filed by the Puthiya Tamilagam president K. Krishnasamy, is to be taken up for hearing by the First Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday.

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