Gujarat temple members allegedly refused to take donation from dalits' hands for ceremony, FIR registered

Ahmedabad: Days after the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) issued a notice over allegations of caste discrimination, the Banaskantha district police registered an FIR against two members of a temple committee for allegedly refusing to take contribution of dalit community for a temple's consecration ceremony or pran-pratishtha mahotsav.

The FIR alleges that the accused were not ready to take the donation from dalits' hands.

The FIR has been registered on the basis of a written complaint filed by a police sub-inspector Haribhai M Patel posted at Suigam police station located close to the India-Pakistan border. He has said that Suigam police station has 47 villages that includes Nadabet on the India-Pakistan international border.

The FIR filed on February 17 states that between February 8 and 10, the consecration ceremony was held at Kalyaneshwar Mahadev and Ramchandra Parivar and Goga Maharaj located close to Kalyanpura village under Suigam police station jurisdiction.

The police had also provided security to check any untoward incident which could have led to law and order situation. It says that the members of the organising committee of the event were against dalit community members contributing money for the event.

The FIR mentions that the local intelligence bureau of the district police also informed about the tension between the two communities. A police team had been deployed to see that the situation didn't escalate.

According to the FIR, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) level officer tried to mediate to resolve the issue. It says that the village sarpanch along with dalit community were adamant to give the donation in the hands of the committee instead of the donation box.

The sub-inspector has stated in the FIR that the committee members refused to take contribution directly from Dalit community members' hands. The FIR was registered against two committee members identified as Balabhai Ishwarbhai Daiya and Amratbhai Parkhabhai Gamot.