Published: 23rd May 2015
VELLORE: The district administration has decided to execute a bond on the elders and representatives of intermediate caste and Dalits in Asanampattu panchayat under Section 107 of CrPC to clamp the simmering tension between the two communities over organising the village temple festival.
The district administration has decided to invoke the section to keep peace after their efforts to defuse tension between the two communities bore no fruit.
According to officials, the provision is usually invoked to bind a person for breach of peace. The person has to execute a bond with two sureties to maintain peace for a period of a year.
Nearly 1,000 people, excluding Dalits and Arunthathiyar, in the village resorted to hunger-cum-road-roko protest from around 7 am on Friday demanding the revenue officials to allow them to celebrate the temple festival.
They resorted to the protest after the RDO of Tirupattur D Rengarajan directed the officials to seal the temple on Thursday. After the first round of peace talks held at the Ambur taluk office on Wednesday failed, the RDO went to the village on Thursday for the second round of talks, which could not be conducted as the intermediate caste Hindus did not turn up for the meet.
Following this, he directed the officials to seal the temple and invoke Section 145 (joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, knowing it has been commanded to disperse) of IPC.
Demanding that the seal be removed, the villagers squatted on Alangayam-Vellore Road near their village till 11 am. After the police officials pacified them, a group of village elders from Caste Hindu community met the RDO of Tirupattur D Rengarajan and pleaded him to let them celebrate the festival. “The representatives of intermediate caste Hindus requested to unseal the temple or allow them to use the old temple to celebrate the festival. But, I have summoned the Dalits and intermediate caste representatives for a meeting again on Saturday. Based on the outcome, a decision will be taken,” said the official.
The official added that if they do not agree for an amicable solution, they would execute a bond under the provision of section 107 of CrPC (security for keeping the peace in other cases).
“We will obtain written assurance from the villagers to keep peace and tranquillity in the village. If they fail to keep up the assurance, they will be slapped a fine of ` 25,000 or face six months of imprisonment or both,” said the official.
The police department, in the meantime, has deployed around 50 police personnel in the village to maintain law and order.
It all started when the intermediate caste members in the village, citing last year communal clash reportedly triggered by a group of Dalits, decided to conduct the annual temple festival and ignored the representatives of Dalits from being part of the festival organising committee.
Irked over this, the women of Dalits and Arunthathiyar communities staged hunger protest on Wednesday alleging caste discrimination in organising the temple festival. “Though the officials tried to defuse the tension between the two communities, they remained stubborn on their respective stands. This led to the failure of two rounds of peace talks, affecting the normalcy of the village,” said police officials.
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