Woman artist booked for filming reel on Guruvayur temple premises

Jasna Salim, an artist known for paintings of Krishna, has been booked again for allegedly violating a ban on filming videos on the Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple premises, the police said on Saturday.

The Guruvayoor Temple police on Friday registered a case against Ms. Salim and another person who handles an Instagram page on charges of allegedly filming a social media reel at the “nadapandal” of the shrine recently.

The case was registered based on a complaint of the temple administrative officer, the police said. She was booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and an investigation is on in this regard.

A devotee

An ardent devotee of Krishna, Ms. Salim has created many paintings of him and even gifted a painting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Thrissur recently.

She was booked by the police early this year for allegedly filming a video after adorning an idol of Krishna—placed above the offering box at the eastern entrance of the temple—with a garland.

The police said she had violated a recent Kerala High Court ruling that deemed filming such videos within shrine premises and sharing them on social media platforms unacceptable.

Ms. Salim had courted controversy earlier as well, when she cut a cake near the temple premises and attempted to film a video of it.