Court seeks public opinion on longer 'darshan' timings at Bankey Behari temple

Mathura: The court of the Civil Judge (Junior Division) here on Saturday invited objections from the public on the proposed extension of 'darshan' timings at Vrindaban's Bankey Behari temple.

"A notice regarding the objections has been pasted inside the temple premises," temple manager Munish Sharma said today.

The notice has invited the Goswamis as well as the common devotees to present their objections before the court of Civil Judge (Junior division) on December 18, Sharma said.

At present, the timings are four hours in the morning (Rajbhog Darshan) and four hours in the evening (Shayanbhog Darshan), he said, adding that the proposal is to increase the timings by two hours each.

A letter to this effect was sent by the SSP (Mathura) to the District Magistrate, City Magistrate Basant Agrawal said. "The DM, on the basis of letter had ordered me to go ahead on the proposal," Agrawal said.

A joint request with the DM's signature and that of Deputy SP Vijai Shankar Mishra was presented before the court and a decision is awaited, Agrawal said, adding that the move was initiated to prevent any untoward incident owing to the heavy influx of pilgrims.