Bailiffs evict Hindus from Tooting temple (From Wandsworth Guardian)
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Bailiffs evict Hindus from Tooting temple
Bailiffs executed a dawn raid on a Hindu temple, evicting priests and seizing its sacred contents in a move which has outraged the Hindu community.
Bailiffs evict Hindus from Tooting temple
Backed up by the police, they moved in on the Sivayogam temple in Hebdon Road, Tooting, at 5am last Tuesday, May 22, following a protracted legal dispute with owner Barrowfen Properties Ltd which has plans to turn it into a Travelodge.
Eleven priests sleeping in the art deco building were evicted and the building sealed, preventing worshippers from entering or removing 16 gold and gem encrusted statues of gods believed to be worth around £100,000.
Following pressure from the Hindu community and others such as the local MP Sadiq Khan, the High Court ruled on Monday that the temple trustees should be allowed back into the building for one day to remove their possessions.
The court had earlier granted legal possesion of the building to Barrowfen and ordered the temple trustees to pay them £180,000 in rent arrears dating back to 2008. The temple trustees who have been based in the building for 16 years continue to dispute this debt.
Bailiffs evict Hindus from Tooting temple
This morning they were at the temple accompanied by police officers and their solicitors to collect their beloingings and ensure that nothing has been damaged.
Founder and spiritual leader of the temple Nagendram Seevaratnam, 74, said: "It is the way they would have treated criminals.
"Everybody is devastated, people are crying, I can't describe how people feel. There is disgust on the face of the deities.
"I feel disappointment in the administration and the way the police have behaved.
"I roundly condemn the sacrilegious conduct of the enforcement officers and police in gaining forceful and blasphemous entry into the temple."
Bailiffs evict Hindus from Tooting temple
A source close to the temple said they were appalled that meat eaters had entered sacred parts of the temple wearing shoes, regarded as sacrilege by Hindus.
They said: "Meat eaters are not permitted entry into the temple area. This, notwithstanding high handed enforcement officers who are beef eaters have violated the sanctity of the temple by trampling the area of the shrines with their booted feet."
But Barrowfen said the order was enforced with sensitivity to ensure the deities were not touched, with the police there to make sure it was carried out peacefully.
A statement said: "Nobody touched the deities, they were told to just take their personal possessions and leave. We gave them two to three hours of negotiations.
"They are going on saying we haven't given them enough time. We told them in 2009 we would not be renewing their lease.
"The landlord wants to redevelop the whole block to a mixture of everything - housing, shopping and it will make the whole area so much better and for everybody's benefit."
Borough Commander David Chinchen said: "Our planning has been to ensure there was sensitivity. We have ensured as far as possible these evictions are done with sensitivity, it was seen as a place of worship and considerations were made.
"And there should be sensitivity to allow them to remove the deities."
Tooting MP Sadiq Khan said: "The eviction of Sivayogam Temple is very distressing for the local community, and for the Hindu community across South London "One of the joys of Tooting is that we have churches, mosques, gurdwaras and temples all serving our community cheek by jowl.
"The way the congregation have been treated by the landlord is shocking. Since the eviction I have been extremely concerned that the temple is respected at all times, and that nothing is done to damage or remove any deities in the temple."
A spokesperson for the Hindu Council UK said: "A temple is a community centre. Obviously demolition of it will be distressing to community life.
"If you are replacing a community centre purely for commercial purposes the council would need to look deeper into it.
"The trustees should have made an application for a restraining order and appealed the decision to the High Court. We are looking into and doing our collective thinking on this."
Mr Seevaratnam said thousands of people regularly attended services at the temple with up to 8,000 travelling to take part in their annual chariot festival.
In May 2010 Barrowfen submitted a planning application to create a 76-bedroom hotel on the site, plus 11 flats and shops on the ground floor.
Last November the temple's huge sacred chariot was mysteriously torched outside the building.Police have yet to find the culprits.
The temple is now in the process of relocating to a site in Lion Road, Mitcham.
Comments (3)
29/05/12
Minuteman says...
"A temple is a community centre". The hotel, flats and shops built in its place would be available to the whole community, regardless of their religion, food preferences or footwear.
The real question is, how do you tell just by looking at someone that they are a meat eater?
31/05/12
furzedown says...
ul!!!Supposed to be a religious community!!!Think they have had plenty of time to relocate.
01/06/12
sivayogam says...
Sivayogam is a registered charity (No.1050398) that runs the Temple concerned. Rent has been paid to the landlord regularly on time. No payment what so ever was in arrears. It is the landlord who owes Sivayogam £6,700 for the last few years that was over charged on account of service charge. He refused to settle.
Mr Girish D Patel of Barrowfen Properties Ltd, a private company, had been the key figure involved. He is a Singaporean resident in the UK. He has misled the High Court and obtained a writ for recovery of £180,000 which is payable by two former trustees of Sivayogam in their personal capacity.
Application to recover this £180,000 from Trust/Temple fund was refused by the Charity Commission as well as the Central London County Court in December 2011.
The trustees wanted time till January 2013 to move to the property in Mitcham they arranged to purchase at a cost of £2.0m. The landlord refused, while number of units of his property at 180 to 214 Upper Tooting Road remain closed for several years and the Borough Council is spending public funds in maintaining them to look good.
On Tuesday, 22 May 2012 at 5.00 in the morning Enforcement Officers with the police broke into the temple and forced 10 priests and others who were living there to leave the premises. They took possession of all items in the premises, including statues, jewellery worth over £300,000, religious artefacts and beds. They misbehaved inside the premises once the ten were out.
On 28th May 2012 the High Court Master Leslie made the following Order:
1) The High Court enforcement officer withdraw from possession.
2) No action be brought against the High Court sheriffs
3) The Judgment Creditor pay the Claimant’s costs to be assessed if not agreed and a sum of £1500 plus VAT be paid as a payment on account of costs by 15th June 2012.
At the hearing, where I was present, Master Leslie who presided made the following comments:
1) When the enforcement officers entered the Temple premises priests and religious workers were sleeping. They had no right to go in without prior notice.
2) The enforcement officers allowed only for 5 minutes to take out their personal belongings. He questioned the possibility of this.
3) All items that were in the Temple premises belonged to either the Temple or priests who lived there and not belonging to those former trustees.
The readers have been misinformed. I suggest the Local Guardian should print a corrected version as what has been published is biased. What went wrong with the publishers?
Re: www.sivayogam.org Email: sivayogam1050398@yah
oo.co.uk Phone: 020 8767 5277
Satheeswaran Manikcawasagasarma
Priest in charge of administration
Sivayogam Temple at Tooting.