New Delhi: The Madurai bench of the Madras high court said that a case involving a man and his community being treated as untouchables should make “each of us hang our heads in shame”.The single-judge bench of Justice P.T. Asha was deciding a petition made by M. Mathi Murugan, who alleged that he was denied entry into a temple located in Mangalanadu village in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukkottai district.“Seventy-five years after the country has secured independence from [colonial] rule … instances as set out in the case on hand should make each of us hang our heads in shame.”“In this country, which has assured liberty vis-a-vis religion and equality of status, persons like the petitioner who belong to the marginalised society are prevented from even offering prayers to the God almighty who belongs to all of us,” the bench said in its April 19 order.Noting that Murugan as well as members of his community were denied entry into the Arulmighu Shri Mangala Nayaki Amman Temple by persons who claimed to be superior to Murugan’s community by virtue of their birth, the bench also said it could not remain aloof to the matter.“This court cannot be a mute spectator and permit perpetuation of the practice of untouchability. Therefore, this writ petition is disposed of giving direction to the second respondent to ensure compliance of the decision arrived at in the peace committee meeting held on December 13, 2021 between the two parties,” the bench said.Pudukkottai’s then-district collector Kavitha Ramu was named as the second respondent in the case. She has since been replaced by I.S. Mercy Ramya.According to Bar and Bench, the peace committee meeting involved an agreement among Mangalanadu’s residents that Scheduled Caste villagers will be allowed to access the temple and partake in its festivities.The high court bench recognised that the meeting doesn’t have legal force, but directed those who allegedly obstructed Murugan’s entry into the temple to adhere to the meeting’s agreements because they participated in it.“It is no doubt true that there is no legal force to the peace committee meeting, but having participated in the same, they are bound by the decision taken therein,” the order read.The order continued to say that the incident represented an “affront to the very social fibre guaranteed by the constitution” and directed the police to invoke the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act against anyone who indulges in similar acts.Vengaivayal incidentPudukkottai district is also home to Vengaivayal village, which is at the centre of another recent caste-based injustice.In December 2022, an overhead tank that provided water to the village’s Scheduled Caste community was found to have been contaminated by human faeces.District collector Kavitha Ramu found that the community was also prevented from entering a temple in the village and personally led some Scheduled Caste villagers into it, the Hindu reported.According to The News Minute, the water contamination case was initially probed by the Pudukkottai district police, but was later transferred to the state’s Crime Branch, Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) in January this year.However, the CB-CID had failed to arrest a single person in the case as of early this month. On July 3, the Madras high court gave four more weeks to a one-member committee it constituted in March this year to submit its report on the case, The Hindu reported.
