MANGALURU: A Christian boy playing a game of cricket with Hindu boys at a Sullia temple ground was asked allegedly by a shrine committee member to leave the premises because of his religion.
A video of the incident has gone viral on social media, but there has been no police complaint yet. Sullia police are conducting an inquiry on their own.
The incident took place three days ago at the grounds of a shrine dedicated to a demigod in Sullia taluk, about 90km from here. TOI could not independently confirm the video’s authenticity.
The footage shows the shrine committee member asking the Christian boy to leave the ground and instead play at church premises. At that juncture, Hindu boys are seen supporting their Christian friend and requesting the committee member to not drag religion into the issue.
The committee member suddenly turned his ire on the Hindu boys, upbraiding them for playing cricket “with people from other religions”. He is heard telling the boys that he has spoken to the MLA over the phone on the issue.
Sources claimed that the shrine committee had decided to plant saplings and dug up pits for the same. Since it was not possible to play cricket at that place, a few youths protested saying they were Hindus and should be allowed to play cricket at the ground. This allegedly irked the committee member, who said a Christian boy was among the players and questioned his presence at the temple.
The committee member, identified as Praveen, later offered apologies and said he had no intention to hurt anybody. A police officer said they informally spoke to the committee member and the boys, and both denied the intention to hurt anyone on religious grounds.
