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Srinagar, July 21: Two assistants at an Amarnath pilgrim camp have been arrested on a woman’s complaint that she suspected them of filming her with cellphone cameras while she was bathing in a makeshift washroom.
Police have confirmed the arrest of the duo, working at the pilgrim camp near Baltal in Ganderbal district. But they have not found any obscene video of the woman on their mobiles.
A police officer in Ganderbal said the middle-aged woman had raised the alarm while bathing in a langar (tin shed) set up for pilgrims. “She claimed the two were peeping through a hole in the tin shed and suspected they were filming her while she was taking a bath. She said one of them had arranged hot water for her before she entered the temporary washroom,” he said.
The policeman said a case had been lodged against the duo. “Both the accused and the woman are from Jalandhar,” he said.
The controversy has broken at a time when the Amarnath shrine board, which regulates the yatra, is under fire for the growing number of pilgrim deaths. Around 90 have already died on the pilgrimage that started on June 25.
The board on Thursday blamed some rituals, among other things, for the deaths. Governor N.N. Vohra, the board chairperson, had appointed a team of doctors to analyse the cause of the deaths.
A Raj Bhavan spokesperson today said the doctors had blamed the deaths on harsh climatic and altitude conditions and some rituals undertaken by the pilgrims. Some pilgrims had also not been wearing suitable clothes, they said.
“Most of them (deceased) believed in a dip in ice cold water before darshan. Most believed in fasting for three days before darshan, which causes hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar). This is especially fatal for diabetics who take anti-diabetic medicines while keeping fast,” the spokesperson quoted the report as saying.
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