Mrs. Sri Lanka 2019, Caroline Jurie was arrested over an issue that occurred at this year's pageant in Colombo. Here's what happened.
The beauty pageant ensued a lot of chaos when the former title holder, Caroline Jurie de-crowned this year's winner, Pushpika De Silva on the grounds that she was divorced. According to the rules of the pageant, only married women are eligible to compete, and hence, Jurie took it upon herself to invalidate De Silva's win.
In a video uploaded by the Colombo Gazette, it is seen how Pushpika De Silva is first announced as the winner of the pageant. Since it is custom for the reigning winner to crown the new winner, Caroline Jurie, former Mrs Sri Lanka was present there too. After De Silva was crowned and sashed, Caroline Jurie took the mic and made an announcement that said, "There is a rule that you have to be married and not divorced. So, I am taking the first step in saying that the crown goes to the first runner-up."
Following this, the video shows how she de-crowned De Silva and proceeded to crown the first runner-up while De Silva walked off stage.
Posting her clarification on Facebook, De Silva wrote, "As I write this, I responsibly say that I am not a divorced woman. If I am divorced, I challenge them to submit my divorce papers," in a statement translated from Sinhala.
She also added, "A real queen is not a woman who snatches another woman's crown, but a woman who secretly sets the other woman's crown."
Pageant officials confirmed that Mrs. De Silva, was in fact, not divorced and eligible to win the crown, following which, she was crowned again.
Upon being re-crowned, Mrs. De Silva announced that she dedicated her crown to the single mothers in Sri Lanka.
Mrs. Jurie is currently under police questioning.
(With inputs from NDTV)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)