The residents of Maruthuvampadi village in Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu have requested the district collector to take against a Roman Catholic church in their village after they constructed a wall to block the pathway of the villagers.
According to the reports, the villagers have alleged that the church constructed a pathway as they refused to convert. They have also accused the church of declining to provide education to their kids who refused to convert to Christianity.
More than 3000 Hindu residents of the village have allegedly been denied access to the public road because they refused to convert to Christianity.
The Hindu residents of the village have submitted a petition to the Tiruvannamalai district collector accusing Father Yesupadam, the administrative officer of the school run by the Catholic church, of forcing them to convert to Christianity.
Taking out a protest against the Roman Catholic church, the villagers also alleged that the Christian cleric built a compound wall to block the public road around the church. The villagers alleged that there is differential treatment for Hindu and Christian children in the church-run school.
The village residents said that the road had been there for more than 100 years and people have been using it for a long time. However, as it is now blocked, people are forced to travel a long distance to access public transportation facilities. The residents have also complained that they were happy once the school re-opened almost two years of the Covid-19 forced lockdown, but the Church authorities asked them to convert to Christianity first.
“Hindu students don’t get any concessions. We pay the full tuition fee and other fees the school demands. Yet our children were asked to not come during exam time. Moreover, the residents said that only Christian children are allowed inside the school now.
However, the Christian cleric claimed that the land in question belonged to the church and that they have a right to build a wall around it.
OpIndia tried reaching Tiruvannamalai district authorities, however, they did not respond. The report will be updated when they respond.
