A large crowd of devotees at the ISKCON temple in Patna, Bihar, during the Janmashtami festival on Monday evening led to a near-stampede situation, according to a police officer.
Some devotees may have sustained minor injuries, but the police quickly managed to bring the situation under control, as stated by Patna SSP Rajeev Mishra.
SSP Mishra on the incident explained, “A significant number of devotees gathered at the ISKCON temple for the Janmashtami celebrations in the evening. Although an adequate number of security personnel had already been deployed, we had to bring in additional forces when the crowd became chaotic as devotees rushed to outpace each other.”
He added, “It was a challenging situation for the security team, but the situation was swiftly controlled. It wasn’t a full-scale stampede.”
Watch: At the ISKCON Temple in Patna, a huge crowd of devotees gathered for Janmashtami. The police faced challenges in managing the crowd and had to use minimal force to control the situation. They are actively working to regulate the influx of people pic.twitter.com/bLIQ5awQVn
— IANS (@ians_india) August 26, 2024
Video clips circulating on social media showed security personnel working to manage the surging crowd at the temple, with a few devotees falling and being assisted by security forces.
“The situation is fully under control. Our top priority is managing the influx of devotees. We’ve also deployed a significant number of female security personnel,” added SSP Mishra. When asked about injuries, he mentioned that “a few devotees might have suffered minor injuries.”
Statement from Patna District Administration The Patna District administration issued a statement on the incident, clarifying, “There was no stampede at the ISKCON temple. Mild force was used to restrain those devotees who attempted to break through police barricades to enter the temple premises. The situation is entirely under control.”
This incident follows another tragic event earlier in the month, where at least seven people were killed and 16 others injured in a stampede at Baba Siddheshwar Nath Temple in Bihar’s Jehanabad district.
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