Chennai:Countering the concerted efforts of the Raj Bhavan and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), to put the DMK government in the dock, the state police had rejected outright the charge of carrying out virginity tests on the minor daughters of the Chidambaram temple priests, arrested last year for conducting child marriage.
The dikshithars, hereditary temple priests of the ancient Natarajar temple, are an endogamous community running the administration of the famed shrine in Chidambaram. Three priests, including the secretary of the temple, were arrested between September and October 2022 following complaints of child marriage. The arrests followed the complaints from the Social Welfare Department.
Painting a picture that the cases of child marriage were foisted and an assault on the dikshithar community, Ravi in an interview with an English daily had termed it as an act of vengeance by the officials. Further, he alleged that following the arrests, “The girl children who were in the sixth and seventh standard were forcibly taken to the hospital and made to undergo the two-finger virginity tests. Some of them tried to commit suicide.” He also claimed that child marriages had never taken place.
It was also the Raj Bhavan's grouse that despite writing to the Chief Minister, there had been no response. The state BJP too has teamed up with Ravi in seeking action against the officials. The Governor's outburst prompted the NCPCR to step in with alacrity by issuing a directive to Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu asking him to carry out an investigation into the matter and submit a report by May 11 along with an action taken report.
In a statement released to the media on Friday, DGP C Sylendrababu rejected the allegations of carrying out virginity tests as a lie with no iota of truth being spread on social media. “On the receipt of complaints about the conduct of child marriages, four cases were registered in Chidambaram Town and All Women Police Station after ascertaining the facts. In all eight men and three women were arrested in this connection. Of the four affected girls, only two were taken for medical tests. The tests were conducted by women physicians. They were not subjected to two-finger tests and it is incorrect to claim that they had attempted to commit suicide. It is farther from the truth.”
“Cases were registered only because there was evidence for the conduct of child marriages and the police proceeded against the accused. It is a complete lie that the minors were subjected to virginity tests,” the DGP made it clear.
The dikshithars are unwilling to give up the temple administration despite frequent complaints of misappropriation and mismanagement from the devotees.
