Chennai - Sandesh

June 14, 2013

Hindus Suffer Festival Violence, Courtesy, A Communal Panchayat President

Violence broke out when a group of men and women took out a religious procession through two places of worship, beating drums and carrying ‘vel kavadi’ and ‘pal kavadi’ in connection with the annual temple festival in the coastal village of Devipattinam, Ramanathapuram district. Two groups attacked each other with stones. On a complaint filed by Muthu Selvam, Sub-Inspector of Police, who opened fire in the air, the police registered a case against the 20 named accused and some others under Sections 147, 148, 341 and 188 of the Indian Penal Code. After bringing the situation under control, the police called 20 accused from both the groups and arrested 11 of them. A day after, on June 9, police arrested 11 persons, including village Panchayat President S. Zakhir Hussain and two juveniles. Zakhir Hussain is a local leader of Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK), an offshoot of the banned Al Umma. Locals said they had been maintaining cordial relations with the other group and had been celebrating the festival for the past two decades without any trouble. Problems began to surface only after Mr.Hussain became the village president, they alleged. 

New Hindu Temple Opposed: Good things not good for some?

Lord Balaji of Tirupati is due to come and reside in a piece of land (named as Tirupati Puram) offered by Vivekananda Kendra in Kanyakumari. Bhumi Pooja was performed for the construction of a temple for Lord Venkateswara on June 4. The temple will have all the amenities on the lines of temple at Tirupathi with goshalas, veda padasala, marriage hall, anna prasada bhavanam. It all began thus: 5 lakh people participated in the Srinivasa Kalyanam (a ritual reminiscent of the marriage of Lord Srinivasa and Goddess Padmavathi) at the Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari held in the year 2010. Overwhelmed by this response, TTD officials were prompted to think the Lord’s way of conveying that he wanted to be in Kanyakumari. Vivekananda Kendra has donated 4.68 acres of land to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) for this purpose. Meanwhile, Christuva Munnetra Iyikkiyam (Forum for Uplift of Christians) President Yesuraj submitted a petition to the Collector Nagarajan opposing the construction of temple, stating that as the minorities are not allowed to construct church as per law, the same rules should also be applied to the Hindus, the petition said.

The long Arm of Jihadi elements in far off Tamilnadu Towns

A Minor girl, native of Mehboob Nagar in Andhra Pradesh, was in search of a job. According to police press release, the minor girl was lured by Asha, who assured to get a job. Sakthivel a native of Thuraiyur, Trichirappally, had paid Rs.30,000 to Asha who sold the minor girl to him. The girl was believed to have been sent with Pon Kamaraj, Thuraiyur Panchayat Union Chairman and AIADMK union secretary, in a car from Salem. The 17-year old girl was confined to a rented house where she was subjected to sexual harassment by the three persons. The girl escaped from the house and raised an alarm. The Cantonment Police booked a case under various IPC sections including 376 (rape) and 365 (kidnap or abduction) besides Sections 4, 6, 8 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. Pon Kamaraj and Dharmar were later remanded in judicial custody. Days after, a special police team arrested a five-member gang K. Karthika Devi alias Asha (25), Siva alias M. Sakthivel (34), R. Prabhu (31), Kavitha (24) and Mohamed Sabikul, (30), a Bangladesh national, on charges of abduction, rape and indulging in trafficking. In a press release, Sri Ram Gopalan of Hindu Munnani has warned that trafficking in women is a conspiracy by terrorist network and without the influence of politicians and money power such acts was not possible. He insisted that the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu should order for a thorough probe into such acts with the assistance of Interpol and Centre-State Intelligence agencies since involvement of Bangla Deshi elements are seen in this case.