Images of the Hindu Deity Krishna mistaken for Buddha images.
Women’s activists are angry and exasperated by police detaining women wearing sarees or dresses with the images of Hindu Deities on them.
Activists say there has been a rash of such incidents recently. Some of the images, particularly of the Hindu deity Krishna, resemble images of the Buddha and that has led to some of the detentions, these activists say.
On Thursday a woman wearing a sari at the Trincomalee bus stand with what appeared to be images of the Buddha was handed over to police by a crowd allegedly incited by a Buddhist Monk who had arrived at the scene.
Social activist Garikalan tweeted the incident saying the woman was “intimidated by the crowd.”
View image on Twitter
An eyewitness, free-lance journalist M L Aswer told RepublicNext that he heard the Monk calling the Officer in Charge of the Trincomalee Police station and reporting the woman.
“Then a police truck arrived and the woman, her daughter and son were taken away by the officers,” Aswer said.
The Police Media spokesman’s office in Colombo confirmed to RepublicNext that a woman wearing such a sari had been detained and released with a warning.
Such incidents are being reported from various parts of the North and East, Indumathie Hariharathamodaran of the Women’s Rights group Viluthu based in Trincomalee told RepublicNext.
“It has become a fashion now for women to wear these sarees with murals of Hindu deities,” she said. “Some of the images look like pictures of Lord Buddha,” she added.