Women cut cake on premises, get notice

BHOPAL:Hell The act created an atmosphere of chaos among public, priests and devotees, which may have an adverse impact on the arrangements for darshan and also on public order THE SHOW CAUSE NOTICE SENT BY ADDITIONAL DISTRICT MAGISTRATE

has broken loose on two women after a seemingly innocuous act of cutting a cake on the premises of Mahakal temple in Ujjain to celebrate a wedding anniversary found its way into the local media.

The district administration that runs the temple served a show cause notice by the additional district magistrate’s (ADM) court on Saturday to the two women asking them to appear before the court on May 25 to explain their conduct. They have also been asked furnish Rs 1 lakh personal bond each to the administration to ensure their presence before the ADM court on May 25, officials familiar with the development said.

The two women also face a possible one-month ban on entering the temple under section 144 of the CrPC. The administration has also written to the district commandant home guard, Ujjain, to take action against home guard Meena Prajapati who allegedly helped the two women. HT has copies of the notices and letter.

The additional district magistrate is in charge of administrative affairs of the temple on behalf of the district collector.

Nandini Joshi, 35, said she and Sadhna Upadhyay, 42 had cut a cake in Nandi Hall adjacent to the Garbhgrih of the temple on May 7 to celebrate the latter’s wedding anniversary. The incident was highlighted in the local media and sparked trouble for them.

The show cause notice by the additional district magistrate’s office says Joshi and Upadhyay’s act of cutting cake has “created an atmosphere of chaos among public, priests and devotees, which may have an adverse impact on the arrangements for ‘darshan’ by thousands of devotees and also on public order.”

A distraught Joshi wants to know which rule or holy book prohibits one from cutting a cake on the temple premises. She said she had made the eggless cake herself and cut the cake away from the Garbhgrih of the temple.

“Nowhere in the temple it was written that cutting the cake was prohibited. None of the security personnel stopped us from doing so. How could such a simple act disturb the peace and order on the temple premises?” she asked.

“This has never happened that administration serves notice to anyone on such a flimsy ground. It has made us look ridiculous. Moreover, we have been asked to deposit personal bond of ~1 lakh each which is absurd,” she added.