Girl “dedicated to goddess” joins observation home
Special Correspondent
VILLUPURAM: At the instance of District Collector Brajendra Navnit, a 13-year-old girl, who was “dedicated to goddess” through a “pottu kattu” ritual on Monday, has been admitted to the observation home run by Kalaiselvi Karunalaya here.
The girl, belonging to the Scheduled Caste, was dedicated to a local temple by her father Ramakrishnan on the advice of a temple priest, Rajan. Both of them have been arrested.
Mr. Navnit told The Hindu that it was wrong to call it a revival of the ‘Devadasi’ system. In this case, Ramakrishnan had just “dedicated the girl to the goddess” to propitiate the deity and ward off evil.
Arrangements made
The girl now studying in Class VIII, was innocent and had expressed her willingness to continue her studies. Since, her family could not support her education it was decided to put her in the Ulundurpet government school after Deepavali and accommodate her in the hostel. The educational expenses would be borne by the district administration.
Mr. Navnit said this arrangement would be in place till she completes Class X. Afterwards, if she wished to continue her studies, arrangements would be made.
Blind belief
The police said the action could not be considered to be perpetuation of the ‘Devadasi’ system, but a case of blind belief to surmount difficulties. Hence, the provisions of the existing laws could not be invoked.
Abusive words
However, since Ramakrishnan had used abusive words while being taken into detention, a case had been filed against him under Section 294 of Indian Penal Code.
The temple priest, while expressing regret, had claimed that he never thought that Ramakrishnan would take the suggestion so seriously.
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