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

Muzaffarnagar: Several Dalits staged a protest on Sunday after some sanitation workers were allegedly not allowed to drink water from a temple in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, police said.

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 hand-pump 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.