- By Imran Zafar
- Sun, 19 May 2024 11:02 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Uttarakhand Police issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on Saturday after a ban on videography and making reels within 50 metres of revered temple premises was announced on May 16. The SOP highlighted that any person found filming reels near Char Dham temples would face legal action under charges of 'malicious acts outraging religious feelings' and 'promoting enmity between groups'.
The directive comes in response to increased crowding at the temple, which has caused significant inconvenience to devotees and complicated crowd management efforts for the police. The ban aims to alleviate these issues by curtailing activities that contribute to the congestion. Additionally, local intelligence units have been tasked with monitoring social media for compliance.
Director General of Police (DGP) Abhinav Kumar issued a stern warning stating that any individual caught disregarding the SOP will be deemed a public nuisance. Furthermore, deliberate actions that disrespect religious sentiments or incite discord among communities based on religion, caste, language or other factors will result in serious legal repercussions.
"If anyone is found violating the prohibition, then he would be booked for creating a nuisance at religious places under the Police Act accordingly. However, if there is evidence that the offender did the act with deliberate and malicious intention to hurt religious sentiments of a certain section of society, then he could be booked under section 295A of the IPC," the official statement read.
DGP Kumar has instructed district authorities to rigorously enforce the SOP. He emphasised that spreading misleading or offensive content about the revered Chardham Yatra pilgrimage sites via the internet will not be tolerated.
