Priests of Chidambaram Nataraja temple in Tamil Nadu booked under SC/ST Act

Police have booked 20 priests in Tamil Nadu’s Chidambaram Nataraja temple under the SC/ST Act for stopping a woman from getting onto a platform to pray. They also falsely accused her of stealing a vessel.

Twenty priests employed at Chidambaram Natarajar temple in Tamil Nadu were booked under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 for stopping a scheduled caste woman from praying while standing on a platform inside the temple.

The incident occurred on Tuesday, February 15. The priests, locally known as dhikshitars, surrounded Jayasheela and stopped her from getting onto the ‘Kanagasabai medai’, a platform which was apparently assigned only for dhiskhitars to stand and pray as a Covid-19 measure.

When Jayasheela tried to climb the stairs to get on the platform, the dhikshitars were seen surrounding her and yelling at her. Several videos of the ordeal were recorded and they have gone viral. The video also showed a priest trying to drag Jayasheela by her hand.

Police reached the spot and Jayasheela filed a complaint stating that she was threatened and the priests even falsely accused her of stealing a vessel.

This is the second such incident reported in the temple. Earlier, Ganesh, who was also a dhiskhitar, had tried to pray from the Kanagasabai platform. But, he was stopped and was suspended from entering the temple.

Based on Jayasheela’s complaint, a case has been filed against the 20 priests under the Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST Act.

Darshan, a priest who accompanied Jayasheela, stated that the rule for not allowing devotees to pray from the Kanagasabai platform was wrong and against temple principles.