Puri:
A day after NDTV reported how a temple in Orissa's Puri district doesn't allow Dalits to enter its premises, and had victimised three Dalit girls, who had had defied the ban, the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes visited the temple for an on the spot assessment.
Mr Punia faced no resistance while entering the temple, even after he declared that he was a Dalit.
The board displayed at the temple banning the entry of Dalits had been removed. But Mr Punia said he will ask the Orissa government to take action against the temple management.
"Our Constitution in article 17 says that untouchability in any form is prohibited, and there is a provision in protection of Civil Rights Act section 3A B, which categorically says that in public temples if there is a discrimination and the members of the Schedules Caste are discriminated on the basis of their caste then it is an offense...so we must make the law more stringent and in addition to this we must also spread awareness among the people," said Mr Punia.