A Sri Lankan beauty pageant made it to the headlines after high voltage drama was witnessed on the stage when reigning Mrs. World and 2019 Mrs. Sri Lanka, Caroline Jurie snatched the crown from this year's winner Pushpika De Silva.
In the viral video that has surfaced on the internet, Caroline Jurie pulled the crown that was entangled in Pushpika De Silva's hair and placed it on the head of the runner-up, prompting De Silva to leave the stage.
Mrs. Jurie justified her action and said that De Silva does not qualify as the winner of the Mrs. Sri Lanka pageant as she is a divorcee. In a video uploaded by the Colombo Gazette, Mrs. Jurie 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." The entire incident was telecast on television.
Watch the viral video here:
However, the pageant organizers have apologized to Mrs. De Silva, who says she is separated, but not divorced.
It has been reported that Mrs. De Silva faced a head injury during the brawl. On Monday, she took to her Facebook and posted that she had sustained injuries to her skull from the incident. "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," she wrote in a statement translated from Sinhala.
"So, even though that symbolic crown has been snatched from my head, I would like to inform you that I have already taken the necessary legal action to correct the injustice and insult," she added.
Talking about Mrs. Jurie's actions, she said "A real queen is not a woman who snatches another woman's crown, but a woman who secretly sets the other woman's crown."
The national director of Mrs. Sri Lanka World, Chandimal Jayasinghe, told the BBC that the crown would be returned to Mrs. De Silva on Tuesday. "We are disappointed," he said, adding: "It was a disgrace how Caroline Jurie behaved on the stage and the Mrs. World organization has already begun an investigation on the matter."
