After three decades of hiding the truth, a Dalit man working as a sanitation worker at the popular temple of Karnataka, the Dharmasthala temple, disclosed heart-wrenching facts about the temple. The man who acted as a whistleblower is protected by the court as he has revealed shocking things about the temple premises, including mass murder and sexual assault. The man said that he could no longer bear the burden of hiding how he was told to bury the bodies or would be beaten up, and this fear made him bury several bodies, which took away the peace from his life.
The man also said that he wanted the authorities to exhumate the bodies that were buried between 1995 to 2014. The bodies, as per the man, include those of women who were sexually assaulted and murdered and of men who were killed in front of his eyes. The Karnataka government has agreed to set up a Special Investigation Team for the purpose of investigating the matter. The pilgrim village is located on the slopes of the Western Ghats on the bank of the river Nethravathi, and is visited by 2,000 pilgrims every day. It is said to be around 800 years old.
The Dalit man registered his complaint in the Belthangady local court on 11th July. He joined the temple in 1995 and reported that he saw bodies near the river, especially of women. He also stated that the bodies showed signs of sexual assault and violence in many cases. He said that he did not complain then due to fear of his superiors, who told him to dispose of the bodies or they would kill him and his family. This made him bury bodies across the area and even burn a few using diesel.
To confirm his claims, he has exhumed a skeleton from a buried area and submitted it to the court via lawyers. The man who refused to be identified said that it is not the number of bodies that matters, but even if the number was two or three and there was a chance of justice for them, he would want to take that. There have also been similar allegations in the Dharmasthala area. even before this case in the 1980s, several families and local authorities.
