The Puri police have registered a case at the Simhadwar police station after videos of the inner scenes of the Sri Jagannath Temple went viral on social media.
Puri Superintendent of Police, Vinit Agarwal, told the media that a case has been registered at the Simhadwar police station. The police, he said, will investigate who captured the footage using a drone and when it was uploaded to social media. The alleged involvement of any temple servitor will also be investigated, and violators will be prosecuted, he added.
Devotees of Lord Jagannath were shocked after videos of temple rituals and inner scenes were uploaded to social media platforms and quickly went viral. The recent footage showing the process of affixing the flag on the Nilachakra of the temple has been widely shared online. Reports suggest that one Surajit Biswas uploaded the entire process to his Facebook page, where it gained significant attention.
The video footage reveals that the entire scene was recorded using a drone camera. The repeated use of drones in and around the temple has created panic among servitors and devotees alike.
In response to these incidents, Odisha Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan recently assured that anti-drone technology would be installed in the temple premises to prevent drones from flying in the temple’s vicinity. However, this has yet to be implemented.
Krushna Chandra Khuntia, a senior temple servitor, said that drones pose a threat to the temple. He noted that the video clearly shows a servitor tying the flag, and called for a thorough investigation. If found guilty, the servitor should be punished, he insisted. Khuntia also demanded that anti-drone equipment be installed as soon as possible to prevent such incidents.
Other servitors expressed concerns that the current penal provisions for such violations are too lenient, allowing offenders to escape with mere warnings. They urged that these penalties be made more stringent to deter future violations.
