Puri: A woman foreign tourist was detained by police for allegedly entering Lord Jagannath temple here on Saturday.
While the security guards at the entrance failed to detain the woman, a servitor spotted her near ‘Baishipahacha’ in the temple and informed the police.
She was detained for violating the Shree Jagannath Temple Act, 1955 that prohibits entry of non-Hindus into the shrine, police said.
Police after detaining her are verifying the identity card, VISA and passport of the tourist.
Recently, nine Bangladesi nationals were detained by police as some of them illegally entered into the Shrine here.
However, during interrogation, the foreign nationals confessed that they were unaware of the temple guidelines that non-Hindus were not allowed inside the temple.
During the police verification, it was found that one of them was a Hindu. The preliminary investigation suggested that four people among them had entered the temple violating the norms under the Shree Jagannath Temple Act, 1955.
Though devotees and sevayats raised voices for taking noticeable steps to stop the entry of such non-Hindus to the temple.