Following protests and police action at the iconic temple on October 3, Supreme Court also says cops cannot make any intervention at the temple wearing shoes

The Supreme Court, on Wednesday (October 10), took note of the violence and subsequenct police action that took place at the iconic Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha earlier this month and barred cops from entering the religious site carrying weapons or wearing shoes.

It may be recalled that on October 3, violence had broken out at the temple following protests by devotes against the introduction of a queue system. Nine policemen had been during the clashes that erupted after a mob barged into the 12th-century shrine, uprooted barricades erected on Baisi Pahacha and near Singhadwara and ransacked the office of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA).

A Supreme Court bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta was informed by the Odisha government that 47 persons were arrested in connection with the violence at the temple and that the situation was now under control.

The counsel appearing for an organization, which sought to the court’s intervention in the matter, claimed before the bench that policemen had entered the temple with guns and boots during the violence.

On Wednesday, while senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, who has been appointed amicus curiae in the matter, was not present in the court, the bench was informed that he had visited the Jagannath temple and that a scheme was being worked out to ensure that devotees are able to visit the shrine in a peaceful manner.

— India Legal Bureau, with inputs from PTI