Function goes ahead after HR&CE and police officials intervene

A man and a woman belonging to a Scheduled Caste community, who arrived at a temple in Chokkanathapuram in Ariyalur district on Sunday to get married, found that the gate had been locked by caste Hindus moments before their wedding was scheduled to take place.

Officials of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department, police and revenue department had to intervene to ensure the function took place.

The wedding of P. Arun Stalin, 30, with Divya, 23, was arranged at a Perumal temple. A few days before, the family of Arun hailing from Namangunam village near Chokkanathapuram paid the charges at the HR&CE office for conducting the wedding in the temple and fixed a priest, who was given the shrine’s key.

But when the couple and their relatives with the priest arrived at the temple in the morning, they found that the main gate had several locks, said A. Sasikumar, a relative of Arun Stalin. He alleged that the caste Hindus were irked over a wedding of an ‘outsider’ being conducted at the temple.

Mr. Sasikumar said he conveyed the message to the Sendurai police, revenue and HR&CE officials. As a precautionary measure, about 50 police personnel were deployed to avert any untoward incident, said a revenue official. The officials said caste Hindus had no right to close the gate as the temple was under the control of the HR & CE department. As the talks went on, the auspicious time for the wedding passed.

Later, the caste Hindus handed over the keys to the officials who opened the temple. The wedding took place around 1.15 p.m., said Mr. Sasikumar, adding that police and revenue officials were present till the function got over and the couple left.