Bhave claims that he only followed rules set by the temple committee which disallows entry of unmarried women into the sanctum sanctorum.
PONDA
Goa’s Mangueshi temple priest, Dhananjay Bhave, who was booked for molesting two women has claimed that one of them fabricated the charges against him after he refused to allow the unmarried woman into the sanctum sanctorum.
The court has granted him interim bail until the next hearing on Wednesday.
The accused, Dhananjay Bhave, told the Ponda additional district and sessions court on Saturday, that he “tried to explain to the complainant that as per the norms and the rules of the devasthan, unmarried daughters/unmarried girls cannot enter the gabhara (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple”.
However, the complainant picked up a quarrel with Bhave and insisted on entering the gabhara, as according to her there is no basis for refusal, he told the court in his petition.
Bhave has been booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 354 for outraging the modesty of a woman.
The Mangueshi temple priest is alleged to have molested the student of medicine enrolled in a US college, who has accused him of hugging and kissing her inside the temple premise in June.
He submitted before the court that he was “only performing religious duties clubbed with traditional and cultural norms followed in the Hindu tradition”, the petition stated.
Bhave also said that his arrest “would bring in bad publicity for the devasthan”.
