The Allahabad High Court has ordered live-streaming of prayers at Vrindavan's Bankey Bihari temple during Janmashtami this year. This would be done in consultation with the civil judge of Mathura, keeping in view a stampede at the temple last year.
The court mentioned that the CCTV cameras must be installed on the directions of the civil judge (junior division). The directions of the civil judge must be adhered to by the district magistrate. A division bench of Justices Siddhartha Verma and Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra passed this order while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Anant Sharma and another resident of Mathura, in view of the stampede in August last year.
The counsel on behalf of the Uttar Pradesh government told the court that there would be a proper barricading inside the temple to manage the flow of devotees. The purpose behind this would be not to let the number of devotees go beyond a particular number at a particular time to avert the chance of overcrowding.
It had prayed for better crowd control, more particularly during festivals and holidays when a large number of devotees visit the temple. The state government had earlier submitted an affidavit proposing a scheme to develop the temple area into a corridor by acquiring around five acres of land around the shrine to provide more facilities to devotees.
As per the scheme, the rights of the traditional priests' family, the Sewayat Goswami family, to perform their acts of "puja," "archana," and "shringar" shall be preserved without any disturbance.
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