Madras High Court calls for action against trustee who recorded Instagram reel inside temple

The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department to act against the trustee and staff of a temple in Tiruvallur district who had allegedly shot a comical Instagram reel inside the temple.

Justice M Dhandapani directed the authorities to take action against all those who were part of the Instagram video and directed the HR&CE Department to submit an action taken report before the Court by October 29.

“People visit temples with a lot of devotion. How can a trustee and the temple employees themselves make a mockery by shooting comic videos, that too right in front of the deity’s portrait?” the High Court said.

The Court was hearing a petition filed by one Jayaprakash Nagapattinam seeking a direction to the HR&CE Commissioner to take action against the trustee and some other employees of the Devi Karumari Amman Temple, claiming they had recorded a video inside the temple premises. In such video, the trustee and the others were seen singing and dancing to film songs, the petitioner claimed.

Accordingly, the High Court asked the Special Government Pleader (HR&CE) NRR Arun Natarajan to ensure that the authorities were informed of the Court’s directions to take appropriate action against the temple staff.