Dalit priest ‘beaten’ over aarti time limit
New Delhi: A Dalit priest was allegedly beaten Tuesday by four youths of the minority community for performing aarti five minutes more than the time agreed upon by the two communities at Nangli village under Kithore police station. The aarti aired on loudspeaker had been a bone of contention and there have been clashes earlier in which two people were killed.
Priest Lakshmichand lodged a complaint that he was beaten because aarti was aired on loudspeaker for 20 minutes while an agreement reached in presence of Minister Shahid Manzoor allowed Dalits 15 minutes for the aarti.
The priest named four youths, Shoaib,Yaasin, Aakil and Rais, in his complaint. Locals allege law enforcers are playing a partisan role. “No arrests have been made and we have deployed police to ensure tension does not spread,” station in charge of Kithore said. The dispute was because aarti was aired on loudspeaker coinciding with the time the minority community offers prayers. Local MLA and Minister Manzoor persuaded members of the two communities to reach an agreement under which Dalits “will not perform puja for more than 15 minutes”, though no time frame was set for the minority community.
Source: The Indian Express
