A Muslim man was arrested by Odisha police after he forcibly entered the Puri Jagannath temple. The incident happened hours after West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee visited the temple. The man allegedly tried to jump from a temple tower and gave unconvincing answers when questioned.
On March 23, a 25-year-old man was arrested after he forcibly entered the temple through its southern gate. Rahman Khan, a native of Murshidabad in West Bengal broke the security cover and ran inside the temple. The temple was closed for public darshan at that time as some important ritual was being performed. Rahman Khan challenged the security personnel at the southern gate and ran towards the Beheran Dwar. He tried to climb a dome and the police claim that his motive was to jump from the top.
Cops followed him and prevented him from climbing the top. When they apprehended him he started hurling abuses. His conduct towards our staff was unpleasant. We do not think he was mentally unstable. He was aware of the temple’s ban on non-Hindus and yet he forcibly entered the premises,” police told Times of India. He was taken to the Singha Dwar police station and questioned. During the inquiry, he could not give a satisfactory reason behind his motive to commit suicide in the temple.
Puri police have informed his family and are checking his antecedents with their counterparts in WB. He has been booked under charges of flouting temple norms and hurting religious sentiments. With the recent incident of a non-Hindu IAS officer forcibly entering the temple, the discussion around Rahman Khan entering the temple is only about non-Hindu entry into the temple. But terrorist attacks in Coimbatore and Mangaluru with temples as the prime targets show that the current incident should be looked at from that perspective. Security should be further tightened in temples to avoid any such unpleasant incidents in the future.
