The winner of Sri Lanka’s biggest beauty award suffered head injuries after a fight broke out on stage.
Beauty queen Pushpika De Silva won the title “Ms. Sri Lanka” at a national TV ceremony on Sunday.
Moments later, the 2019 winner seized Ms. De Silva’s crown, claiming that she could not receive the title because she was divorced.
The prize has now been returned to Ms. De Silva, after the contest organizers confirmed that she is not divorced.
Judges named Ms. De Silva the 2021 winner in Ms. Sri Lanka’s final at a theater in Colombo on Sunday night.
But 2019 winner Caroline Jurie stripped De Silva of her crown, citing a contest rule that contestants should be married and not divorced.
“There is a rule that prevents women who have already been married and divorced, so I am taking steps to make the crown second,” Jurie told the audience.
She put the crown on the runner-up, which led the tearful Mrs. De Silva to leave the stage, showed a video of the incident.
The organizers apologized to Ms. De Silva, who says she is separated, but not divorced.
In a Facebook post, she said she went to the hospital to treat head injuries after the incident.
Ms. De Silva said she would take legal action for the “irrational and insulting” way in which she was treated.
“I am still a non-divorced woman,” she wrote. “A true queen is not a woman who steals another woman’s crown, but a woman who secretly defines another woman’s crown!”
Sri Lanka World National Director Chandimal Jayasinghe told the BBC that the crown would be returned to De Silva on Tuesday.
“We are disappointed,” he said, adding, “It was a shame how Caroline Jurie behaved on stage and the organization Ms. World has already started an investigation into the matter.”
The police questioned Ms. Jurie, who currently holds the title of “Ms. World”, as well as Mr. Jayasinghe, about the incident.
The Ms. Sri Lanka World beauty contest is an important contest in the country. The prime minister’s wife was among the guests at the ceremony.