Dalits protest after sanitation workers not allowed to drink water from temple

Several Dalits has staged a protest after some sanitation workers were allegedly not allowed to drink water from a temple in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, police said on Sunday. The workers were cleaning a drain outside the temple in Thana Bhawan town on Saturday. The priest refused to allow them to take water from a handpump inside the temple and closed the door, an officer said.

Several people belonging to the Valmiki caste staged a protest and demanded registration of an FIR against the priest. Police reached the spot and pacified the crowd by assuring an investigation, the officer said.