Punishment for preventing or discouraging persons from entering or worshipping etc., at Pandharpur Temples.

Whoever-

1. (a) prevents or discourages any person from entering the Pandharpur Temples for worshipping or offering prayers or performing any religious service or ceremony therein, during the period the temple is open to the visitors ;
2. (b) demands or insists for any dakshina, offering, donation, gift, fee or other charge whatsoever from any such person for darshan or padsparsha of the deity ;
3. (c) demands or insists for any unreasonable dakshina, offering, donation, gift, fee or other charge from any such person for performing religious service or ceremony for him or on his behlalf ;
4. (d) insults, annoys, abuses, molests or injures any such person for hesitating to pay or to agree to pay or for refusing to pay or with the intention to force him to pay any charges under clause (b) or any unreasonable charges under clause (c) as the case may be, shall, on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both. Explanation.- For the purposes of this section, when any religious service or ceremony is performed or is proposed to be performed for any person or on his behalf, the expression "demanding or insisting for unreasonable charges" shall include pestering, demanding or soliciting that person, when he has made his offering or the proposes to make his offering, to make offering of the same value for different classes of ministrants or priests or, without settling the charges before hand, pestering, demanding or soliciting him to make separate offerings of the same or different value at different stages of the same service or ceremony.