Puri: The assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of Beach police station, Dillip Panda, was suspended Monday on charges of uploading photographs of inner view of Srimandir on social media.
Panda captured the photographs of Baisi Pahacha, inside the Srimandir, where he was offering ‘pinda’ on the occasion of Mahalaya in his mobile phone and uploaded them on Facebook. Addressing the reporters here, Puri superintendent of police (SP) Sarthak Sarangi said, “There are restrictions on taking cell phones inside Srimandir and taking snaps there. In the photographs, a dhoti-clad Panda is seen offering ‘pinda’ to the ancestors on Baisi Pahacha inside the shrine.” Panda has also photographed several other places of Srimandir and uploaded them on his Facebook account, the SP told the media.
As soon as the photographs went viral, they were removed from the social media site, said Sarang. The incident has created resentment among the servitors and devotees.
Despite a system of thorough frisking of devotees at the four gates of Srimandir for security reasons, a police man carrying a cell phone inside the temple and making the photos viral on social media is not only a cause for concern but is condemnable, rued a local intellectual.
What the rule says?
According to Srimandir Act, only four people – chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), district Collector, superintendent of police and information officer of Srimandir – can take cell phones inside the temple. If anyone other than these personnel is found with a cell phone inside the shrine he/she will be penalised as per the Temple Law.