Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
They call it a ‘heartbreak following an injury.’ Winner of a major Sri Lankan beauty prize suffered head injuries as a brawl broke out on stage just as titles were announced and challenged.
Beauty queen Pushpika De Silva won the “Mrs Sri Lanka” title at a ceremony on national TV. But the decision could not stand moments as the 2019 winner seized Mrs De Silva’s crown, claiming the later could not be awarded the title because she was divorced.
Mrs Sri Lanka World beauty pageant is a major contest in the country. The prime minister’s wife was among the guests at the ceremony.
The prize has now been returned to Mrs De Silva, after pageant organisers confirmed she is not a divorcee. But the drams and mayhem around the title that took place on stage injured the title winner.
Judges named Ms De Silva the 2021 winner at the Mrs Sri Lanka final in a theatre in Colombo on. But the 2019 winner, Caroline Jurie, stripped Mrs De Silva of her crown, citing a pageant rule that competitors must be married and not divorced.
“There is a rule that prevents women who have already been married and are divorced, so I am taking steps to make the crown go to second place,” Mrs Jurie told the audience while she took the steps.
She placed the crown on the runner-up, prompting a tearful Mrs De Silva to walk off stage, a video of the incident that went viral also showed. The organisers have apologised to Mrs De Silva, who says she is separated, but not divorced.
Taking to social media she said she went to hospital to be treated for head injuries after the incident. In a Facebook post, Mrs De Silva said she would take legal action for the “unreasonable and insulting” way she was treated during the event.
“There are a lot of single mums like me today who are suffering in Sri Lanka,” Mrs De Silva shared at a press conference later. “This crown is dedicated to those women, those single mums who are suffering to raise their kids alone.”
The national director of Mrs Sri Lanka World, Chandimal Jayasinghe, also said that the crown would be with Mrs De Silva.
