BHOPAL: Maharani Jiteshwari Devi of Madhya Pradesh’s erstwhile Panna royal family was dragged out from a temple’s sanctum sanctorum during Janmashtami celebrations and prevented from performing a ritual.
A video showing Devi attempting to perform the ritual on Thursday before getting dragged out and the priests accusing her of misbehaving in an inebriated state has gone viral on social media.
Later, she was booked for hurting religious sentiments by entering a temple’s sanctum sanctorum during Janmashtami celebrations. As per the police, Devi has been booked under the Indian Penal Code’s Sections 295A (hurting religious sentiments) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty).
The priests of the temple maintained that only men of the royal family were allowed to perform this ritual, but she broke the rule. "Jiteshwari’s son was invited to perform it but he did not show up. Jiteshwari Devi entered the temple and started creating a nuisance," Santosh Tiwari, a temple administrator said, adding that "only men of the royal family have been performing the ritual on Janmashtami for the past 300 years."
Police said Devi came to the temple and tried to create a ruckus. The temple administration allowed her to perform the ritual during midnight 'aarti' but when she tried to enter the sanctum sanatorium, the devotees protested. "Devi started creating a nuisance. She fell down and the policewomen, who were deployed to take care of the crowd, had to take her away," police said.