Madhya Pradesh: Erstwhile royal family woman held for entering temple sanctum sanctorum in 'drunken' state

Maharani Jiteshwari Devi of Madhya Pradesh's erstwhile Panna royal family was arrested for "hurting" religious sentiments as she entered a temple's sanctum sanctorum during Janmashtami celebrations, allegedly in an inebriated state. However, she alleged that the police and the priests insulted and prevented her from performing a ritual as she is a widow, reported Hindustan Times.

A video of the incident went viral that shows Devi trying to perform a ritual before getting dragged out of the temple as the priests accused her of misbehaviour while being intoxicated. She, however, claimed that she was ill-treated for "exposing a scam".

(This video could not be independently verified by DH)

According to the temple administration, only men of the royal family are allowed to perform rituals in the temple, which has been the tradition for the last 300 years.

"Jiteshwari’s son was invited to perform it, but he did not come. Jiteshwari Devi entered the temple and started creating a nuisance," Santosh Kumar Tiwari, temple administrator was quoted as saying by the publication.

"Even as only men of the royal family use a fan made of white silk thread during aarti, we allowed her to perform this ritual but she started misbehaving. She was in an inebriated state and could not even stand properly. Devotees started objecting to it and we requested her to go out but she fell down. We had to stop the aarti when she tried to touch a flame," he added.

Panna Police Superintendent Sai Krishna also said that she was allowed to perform the ritual but things went wrong when she tried to enter the sanctum sanctorum. He said that she created a ruckus as devotees protested her act, following which she fell down and was taken away by the policewomen deployed there.

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).