Policemen removed from duty at Badrinath temple

STAFF WRITER 20:11 HRS IST

Gopeshwar (Uttarakhand), Jun 15 (PTI) Nearly a week after alleged misbehaviour with a woman pilgrim by a constable, the district administration has removed policemen from duty at the famous Badrinath temple.

Volunteers of Shree Badrinath-Kedarnath temple committee would now be deployed at the temple to manage the crowd of worshippers, official sources said here today.

The police now would have no role in facilitating the entry of pilgrims to the temple, they said.

The police would be deployed only outside the temple area, the sources said.

The rush of pilgrims would be managed by the volunteers and M S Bhandari had been appointed the Temple Magistrate to oversee the arrangements, they said.

On June 11, an altercation and a scuffle took place between a constable and a woman pilgrim who was standing in a queue near a gate of the temple located in snow-capped Garhwal Himalayas.