A tattoo artist and a parlour owner in India’s eastern city of Bhubaneswar were arrested after a viral photo showed an Italian woman with a local deity’s likeness on her thigh, sparking outrage from Hindu groups and devotees.
A case was filed against the tattoo parlour owner in the wake of the protests for allegedly outraging religious sentiments.
The parlour owner, Rocky Ranjan Bisoi, 33, told police that one of his artists, Ashwini Kumar Pradhan, 25, had tattooed the woman’s thigh at her request.
Mr Bisoi had posted a picture of the woman and her tattoo as his WhatsApp status. The image went viral on social media, sparking outrage and prompting him to delete the post.
Subrat Kumar Mohanty, self-described social activist, filed a police complaint against Mr Bisoi after finding a photo of a “foreign woman on the social media account of Rocky Tattooz where Lord Jagannath’s tattoo was seen on her thigh, an objectionable placement”.
Jagannath is the presiding deity of the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha, one of the most revered Hindu shrines and pilgrimage centres in India.
“The tattoo has hurt our religious sentiments,” Mr Mohanty said in his complaint, “and we demand a public apology at Puri.”
The woman, reportedly an Italian NGO worker in Odisha’s Kandhamal region, apologised saying she was a devotee and did not intend disrespect.
A local police official, Biswa Ranjan Senapati, told The Times of India that police would “definitely question her and issue her a warning since she seems to be unaware of our religious sentiments”.
“During the investigation, we found that the foreign lady had visited the tattoo shop on March 1. Under the instruction of the tattoo shop owner Rocky Ranjan Bisoi, Aswini Kumar Pradhan drew the tattoo on the thigh of the woman,” he was quoted as saying by PTI news agency.
In his complaint, Mr Mohanty argued that the parlour owner should have prevented the foreigner from getting the deity’s image tattooed on “an unsuitable body location”.
Mr Bisoi even took a photo of the foreigner with the tattoo and posted it on social media, he added.
Amid the outrage, Mr Bisoi and the foreign woman issued separate video apologies on social media. “I sincerely apologise as the tattoo was inked in our studio. I also seek forgiveness on behalf of the artist who created it. The woman, an Italian national, visited our shop on Saturday, expressing her deep devotion to Lord Jagannath and requesting the tattoo,” he said. “She specifically asked for it to be placed on her thigh as she works in an NGO where tattoos in visible areas of the body are not permitted.”
The woman promised to remove the tattoo once it had healed. She said in a video message on her social media: “I did not want to be disrespectful. I’m a true devotee of Lord Jagannath. I go to the temple every day. I made a mistake and for this, I’m very sorry.”
“I just asked the artist to ink the tattoo in a hidden place. I didn’t want to create any situation. I’m very sorry for this. As soon as the tattoo area heals, I will have it removed. Forgive me for my mistake.”
The parlour owner claimed the woman decided to have the tattoo on her thigh despite him advising against it.
The name and age of the woman was not publicly disclosed.
There have been several incidents over the years of foreigners being accused of hurting the religious sentiments, intentionally or unintentionally, of the local people in Asian nations.
In 2023, a Russian man was deported from Indonesia after a viral photo showed him stripping atop Bali’s sacred Mount Agung. Despite apologising, he was reportedly banned from returning to the country for at least six months.
