Is this Hinduism? Girls’ dress removed in temple, forced to remain topless

The pictures and video clippings of minor Hindu girls participating in a ritual wherein they are forced stay bare-chested for a fortnight at Madurai’s Yezhaikatha Amman temple have sparked outrage on social media.

According to the temple’s tradition, the priest selected the seven girls between ages of 10 and 14 and ‘offered’ them to the deity for a fortnight beginning the last Tuesday in the Tamil month of Aavani. Girls from 62 villages are paraded before the priest of the temple before seven are selected.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh chief secretaries and the director generals of police over allegations of continuance of the Devadasi system that includes offering girls as slaves to goddess Mathamma.

Madurai (TN)-Minor girls take part in ritual at Yezhaikatha Amman temple,which include staying at temple bare-chested for a fortnight (25.9) pic.twitter.com/9Fnm9E4z8V

— ANI (@ANI) September 27, 2017

"Allegedly, as part of the ritual, the girls are dressed as a bride and once the ceremony is over, their dresses are removed by five boys, virtually leaving them naked. They are denied to live with their families and have the education. They are forced to live in Mathamma temple deemed to be like a public property and face sexual exploitation," the statement issued by NHRC said.

The commission observed that the allegations made in a complaint as well as a media report about the continuance of this practice were serious in nature, and if true, these amount to violation of human rights including rights to education, life and dignity besides children's rights.

Threat calls to editor

Meanwhile, the editor-in-chief of news website in Coimbatore has lodged a complaint with Coimbatore police claiming that she has been receiving threatening calls ever since it ran a story on this bizarre ritual in Madurai’s temple.

“I had to switch off my phone as there was a volley of life threats and several hate calls ever since we posted the story and Madurai district administration reached the spot to probe,” Vidyashree Dharmaraj, editor-in-chief of Covai Post said.