Ujjain: After the ill-treatment of amputee climber Arunima Sinha snowballed into a major controversy, administration of the Mahakal Temple here has expressed regret over the incident.
Reacting to the incident, Madhya Pradesh Women and Child Development Minister Archana Chitnis has said that she would personally visit the athlete to convince her to visit the temple again.
Sinha, who has scaled Mount Everest in 2013, had sent the administration into tizzy after she took to Twitter to say that she was ill-treated at the Mahakal temple and wasn’t allowed to enter the garbgriha (sanctum sanctorum) to seek blessings.
Chitnis said that she has sought a report from Ujjain commission about the incident. “It would be made sure, she faces no inconvenience next time she comes to the temple,” she said. “Arunima is India’s daughter and we all are proud for her achievements,” she added.
It was the minister who had invited the inspiring mountaineer to her home town in Burhanpur for addressing a youth convention. On way back, Sinha had visited Mahakal temple but was denied entry as temple staff objected to her western attire.
Despite the athlete explaining them about her physical constraints, she was not allowed to enter garbhagriha and was made to seek darshans on LED screen. Her assistants also were prevented from accompanying her into the temple.
An upset Sinha had narrated her ordeal on twitter on Monday, tagging PM and CM’s official handles into her complaint.
Temple administrators Avdhesh Sharma on Tuesday said that the CCTV footage of the incident has shown that the woman employee posted outside the garbhgriha did not handle the situation properly and that they apologise to the athlete and invite her to visit the temple again.
Talking to News18, Sinha flayed the behaviour of temple staff despite the fact she was a differently-abled visitor. “No temple in India should segregate on the basis of outfits,” she demanded, alleging that a boy wearing jeans had come out while she was being denied entry.
Congress leader Kamal Nath attacked the Shivraj Chouhan government over the incident. “The treatment meted out to Arunima Sinha at Ujjain has exposed Shivraj government’s policies on girls and the differently-abled, Nath tweeted.
The incident came couple of weeks after the President bestowed an award on the temple for excellent disabled-friendly arrangements.
Sinha, a former national volleyball player had lost one leg after she was thrown out of a moving train by some goons in 2011. Despite losing a leg in the incident, she became India’s first amputee climber to scale Mount Everest in 2013.
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