Dalit woman alleges temple washed after she entered it

Kanpur, Jul 14 (PTI) A Dalit woman of Mangalpur village in the district has alleged that the priestess of a temple, where she had gone to offer prayers, washed the temple with Gangajal after she had left.

The woman later informed the police about the incident following which the priestess said the temple is washed daily before it’s closed for the day.

No further action was taken in this connection as the Dalit woman did not lodge any written complaint, police said.

The incident is alleged to have taken place on Monday when Bitani Devi, along with other women, entered the Chaturbhuj temple in the village to offer prayers in connection with her daughter’s marriage, Mangalpur station in-charge Jai Prakash Yadav said.

He said the temple was about to close when Devi came and the preparations for its cleaning were underway.

Devi later requested the priestess Babita Trivedi to let her complete the prayers first, following which Trivedi agreed to keep the temple open for another half-an-hour, he said.

After the prayers, the temple was washed as per the routine. Seeing this, Devi assumed that it was done because she had done the ‘pooja’ there, he added.

The priestess was later called for questioning after the Dalit woman’s oral complaint and it was found out that the cleaning was done according to usual routine and there was no particular reason that day for doing the same, Yadav said.

The issue was resolved after the police brought both the women face-to-face.

Asked about the incident, Kanpur (rural) officials claimed there is no discrimination towards the Dalit community and the temple is washed daily before closing.

Even she did not register any complaint when the whole issue was clarified to her, the officials said.