SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, March 2: Deoghar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Manjunath Bhajantri has set up a one-man committee of Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC) Kumar Tarachandra (IAS) to probe the incident in which Barkagaon Congress MLA Amba Prasad was allegedly denied entry in Baba Baidyanath temple on the occasion of Mahashivratri on Tuesday, March 1.
Amba Prasad along with her mother, bodyguard and supporters had gone to offer Puja in the temple when officials and Panda Samaj stopped her entry at the VIP gate.
Women MLAs of Congress including Purnima Neeraj Singh (Jharia), Deepika Pandey ( Mahagama) raised the issue through their tweets and Chief Minister Hemant Soren also retweeted it.
https://twitter.com/DipikaPS/status/1498674093796868098
Having seen the issue as serious, the Deoghar DC set up a committee under the DDC to probe the incident today.
साथ हीं 48 घंटे के अंदर उपायुक्त कार्यालय को तथ्यात्मक जवाब प्रतिवेदन उपलब्ध कराने का निदेश दिया गया है, ताकि उक्त जांच प्रतिवेदन के आलोक में संदर्भित कार्रवाई की जा सके।
— DC Deoghar (@DCDeoghar) March 2, 2022
A senior official of Deoghar, requesting anonymity, said that the incident occurred between 11.45 a.m. to noon on Tuesday. As per schedule, arrangements had been made for Chief Justices of Jharkhand High Court Justice (Dr) Ravi Ranjan and Chief Justice of Patna High Court Justice Sanjay Karol to offer Puja through the VIP gate.
As senior officers of the district administration went to bring the chief justices from the circuit house, in the meantime, MLA Amba Prasad without having a VIP coupon for ‘darshan’ stormed there. She grabbed the seats of chief justices and pressured the authorities to allow her to offer Puja.
The principal judge of Deoghar, the temple in-charge Ramesh Parihast and senior Pandas were also there to receive the chief justices of both the High Courts as protocol.
“The authorities denied her demand saying that it was not possible to allow her for puja as arrangements had been made for the chief justices. They also informed her that no other person would be allowed till the chief justices of Jharkhand and Patna High Court perform Puja. Moreover, they also pointed out that she could not be allowed a VIP ‘darshan’ without a coupon along with drivers, bodyguards and supporters in such a large number. The MLA left the spot after that,” said an official present on the spot.
This is the second time in two years when such an incident has taken place at Baba Baidyanath Temple. Two years ago, on the occasion of Mahashivratri, BJP Godda MP Nishikant Dubey was denied VIP entry when he had gone with his father, mother and other family members in 2020.
