Wednesday, January 19 2005 10:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Alleging stifling of Kanchi Mutt activities by the Tamil Nadu Government, the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) has approached National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking its intervention and pleading for deputing a team for an on-the-spot assessment.

BJP MP Balbir Punj, who led the party's fact-finding team to Tamil Nadu recently, wrote to NHRC chairman A S Anand asking the commission to "timely step in to stop catastrophic implications (of sealing Mutt accounts)" and asked for immediate deep freeze of Mutt accounts.

He argued that NHRC intervention was required because of various unsavoury actions by the Tamil Nadu Government including arrest of junior Shankaracharya Vijayendra Saraswati soon after Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati was released on bail by Supreme Court and "leakage to media of video footage allegedly containing the Seer's confession".

"The establishment at Tamil Nadu has practically declared a war against the Mutt. The Mutt inmates, associates and employees are living under a reign of terror leading to paralysis of normal routine," the letter alleged.

Punj alleged that police "pick up people at odd hours, mostly without written summons and subject them to third degree methods to extract demonizing confessions under duress."