Odisha: After Amazon, Pinterest in trouble for hosting ‘Abadha’ of Lord Jagannath for sale on-line

Puri: Even as e-commerce giant Amazon finds itself entangled in a legal battle for selling Lord Jagannath’s revered dry Prasad ‘Nirmalya’ on-line, another online shopping company has landed in trouble over a similar reason.

A servitor of Sri Jagannath Temple, Sambhunath Khuntia has alleged that e-commerce platform Pinterest has advertised to sell the ‘Abadha’ Prasad and 'Chhapan Bhoga' of Lord Jagannath through on-line mode. He has lodged a complaint at the Singhdwar Police station in this regard.

"We have mentioned in the complaint that the Mahaprasad and 'Chhapan Bhoga' which is a part of the 'Kotha Bhoga' of Lord Jagannath are available on an e-commerce platform illegally. It should come under the purview of investigation that from where they procure the holy food and hosted on their website for sale when the same was not available due to the restrictions over Coronavirus pandemic ", Khuntia said.

The same police had earlier registered a case against Amazon for selling Nirmaly online following a complaint lodged by Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and servitor group, Suara-Mahasuara Nijog.

The SJTA and a group of servitors of the 12th century shrine alleged that Amazon had not taken prior permission from the temple authorities before publishing advertisements to sell the sacred food.

The servitors alleged that such companies are trying to destroy the sanctity and piety of the sacred Prasad for profits. The companies dare to commit such crime due to police inaction despite repeated complaints, the servitors alleged.