SC body claims temple in MP village shut to prevent groom's entry

A scheduled caste organisation on Monday alleged that some ”influential people” locked up a temple in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district to prevent a groom, a police constable, from entering the religious place.

Police said that the builders of the temple told them that it was shut following the death in the family of the temple priest. Alleging discrimination by caste, All India Balai Federation president Manoj Parmar claimed that the police constable, Meherban Parmar, wished to visit the Lord Ram temple on Sunday night during his marriage procession in Bardia village.

”However, the influential people of the village locked the temple’s gate to prevent him from entering the religious place,” he claimed. Bardia village has a population of around 5,000 and the temple is for the public, Manoj Parmar said.

However, Bhatpachlana police station in-charge Sanjay Verma said that the Rajput community in the village submitted some documents claiming that the temple was built by them and they have been maintaining the religious place for the last several years. ”They informed that one person in the family of the temple priest has died and the temple is closed due to ‘sutak’ (Hindu belief of abstaining from worship for a specified period following the death of a family member),” he said. Verma said the local administration will decide whether the public can visit the temple.

Police will take appropriate steps after the administration’s decision, he said.