Police with weapons, shoes on can't enter Lord Jagannath temple: SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that policemen cannot enter Puris famed Jagannath temple premises with weapons and with shoes on.

A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta said this as the court was told that to quell the October 3 violence in a protest against the introduction of queue system for the devotees, the police entered the temple wearing shoes and carrying weapons.

The violence erupted during a 12-hour shutdown called by a socio-cultural organisation to denounce the introduction of a queue system for devotees coming to Lord Jagannath's temple.

The police had to intervene as an irate mob attempted to barge into the 12th century shrine, removed the barricades erected near the temple and ransacked the office of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA).

Under the queue system, the devotees have to enter the shrine by forming a queue at the Singhadwara, the main entrance. After a 'darshan' of the deities, they have to exit through three other gates.

During the bandh, the protesters ransacked the house of local MLA and Revenue Minister Maheswar Mohanty and had allegedly hurled stones at Puri Superintendent of Police (SP) Sarthak Sarangi's official residence, police said.

--IANS

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