Prabha Devi (extreme left) at Nitish’s janata durbar. Picture by Deepak Kumar

A 72-year-old woman gave district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh and senior superintendent of police Amrit Raj a tough time when she reminded them their duties, quoting verses from the Ramayana.

Prabha Devi, a resident of Rajendra Nagar area in Patna, visited chief minister Nitish Kumar’s janata durbar on Monday asking for a hut. But she ended up giving sermons on dharma (religion) and the duties of those who ruled the people and those who protected them.

It happened after Nitish directed his secretary Atish Chandra to take the lady to Singh and Raj. As soon as she reached their table, Singh offered a chair to her and asked the problem. But instead of telling her problem, the septuagenarian said: “As the king of this state, Nitishji should take care of each citizen. He should be like Lord Ram who sacrificed his kingdom.”

Then started the Sanskrit shlokas that continued for an hour. Initially both Singh and Raj were quiet, but started laughing after a while when Prabha addressed them as beta.

Later, deputy SP Manish Kumar escorted her. Prabha blessed Nitish with a long life on her way out.

“She was quite knowledgeable. It was not tough to deal with her, but she consumed a lot of time,” Singh said.

Raj differed. “Sometimes, it becomes difficult for us to deal with such complainants at the janata durbar. She was a very old woman and could not be ignored,” he said.