Habishyalis ‘misbehaved, beaten’ in Puri Srimandir

Raising questions on the safety of devotees in Srimandir, two women who had come to perform ‘Habisha’ in the holy Kartik month were allegedly misbehaved and beaten up by a servitor inside the Jagannath Temple on Wednesday.

As per reports, a lady, Kumari Nayak from Brahmagiri in Puri, had come to Srimandir to perform Habisha. However, when she entered the temple to avail darshan of Lord Jagannath, a servitor allegedly pushed her and when she fell down, the servitor even set his foot on Nayak’s neck.

Nayak sustained injuries to her knee and neck which made her cringe in pain while walking.

Speaking to OTV, Nayak said, “When I entered the temple, a servitor came and behaved rudely with me. He asked me why I have come here, is it to eat free lunch? He then pushed me and beat me.”

The lady was taken to the first aid centre set up by the district administration for Habishyalis where she was treated by the physicians and later allowed to go.

Another woman also levelled similar allegations on a servitor. However, it is unclear whether the servitor in question was the same man in both the instances.

The second Habishyali said, “The servitor misbehaved with me and asked me to go away. I gave him an earful though.”

No FIRs were lodged in this connection. The SJTA could not be contacted for comments.

(Reported By Madhusudan Mishra, OTV)