A new photo leak from inside Puri’s Shree Jagannath Temple has once again exposed the weakness of the “no photography” enforcement. A close-range image, allegedly taken from near the Ratna Singhasan itself and uploaded to Instagram by a user identified as ‘Ashirbad945’, has gone viral, raising serious questions about how a phone or camera reached the most restricted zone of the temple despite multiple security layers and a long-standing ban.
The incident comes on the back of repeated security breaches in recent months: an impostor entering the sanctum dressed as a servitor and reportedly touching the Ratna Singhasan, a devotee caught with spy-camera spectacles inside the Jagamohan, and even a servitor allegedly using a mobile phone for photos inside the premises. Each case has exposed not just individual misconduct, but a deeper failure in screening, frisking, and internal discipline among those responsible for protecting the sanctity of Srimandir.
Currently, unauthorised photography inside the temple is punishable with up to two months’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000, a penalty many devotees rightly see as toothless in the age of hidden cameras and viral content. The Odisha government has therefore proposed amendments to the Shree Jagannath Temple Act to make such offences cognisable, non-bailable, and punishable with imprisonment of up to seven years, a step aimed at creating real deterrence against repeat offenders and organised content hunters.
Temple officials have said an inquiry will verify when and how the latest image was taken and whether a formal case is to be registered. But for crores of Jagannath bhaktas, the core issue is stark: if even the Ratna Singhasan can be secretly filmed, then the current system is not just lax, it is failing Lord Jagannath’s own maryada.
Devotees do not come to Srimandir for someone’s social media “content.” They come for darshan. Protecting that sanctity now demands zero tolerance, stricter laws, and honest enforcement inside and outside the garbhagriha.
