Sabarimala row: Protests over entry of women continue, tension prevails in Pamba, Nilakkal
Kerala has been witnessing protests against the entry of girls and women of menstrual age into Sabarimala temple since the government had said it would abide by the ruling of the apex court.
Three days after the Sabarimala temple opened its doors to the public, devotees continued to lay seige to the holy shrine on Saturday. A massive protest by devotees of Lord Ayyappa broke out near the Sabarimala shrine on Saturday following rumours that a woman from Tamil Nadu below 50 years of age climbed the hills to offer prayers to the presiding deity.
The situation turned tense in the area, where section 144 was clamped as devotees gathered in arge numbers at 'Valiya Nadapandhal' to protest against the woman's entry into the temple.
However, the tension was defused after the woman, who had come with her family members, convinced the protesters that she was above 50 years, and proceeded to the shrine.
The woman carrying 'irumudikkettu' (holy bundle) climbed the 18 holy steps amid security cover to reach the temple and have 'darshan'.
Meanwhile, Pathanamthitta District Collector P B Nooh said there was no tension at Sannidhanam.
"A woman came for darshan. Some news channels followed her...Then a crowd gathered...That was the only issue," he said.
The collector also dismissed as "rumours" reports that some young women were planning to trek the hills to reach the shrine.
"There were some rumours (spread) through social media. We verified them...There is no confirmed report (on young women visiting the shrine) so far," Nooh said.
It is the responsibility of the administration to facilitate the darshan of Lord Ayyappa for all devotees, the collector asserted.
Tension gathered momentum after rumours spread that five women are on their way to the temple with police. Another woman activist, SP Manju also arrived in Pamba for climbing the shrine.
Earlier on Friday, journalist Kavitha Jakkal and activist Rehana Fatima were just 500 metres away from the final 18 golden steps leading to the Lord Ayyappa shrine at Sabarimala when they had to beat a retreat amid threats to close down the temple. Another woman, Mary Sweety had also reached Pamba to visit temple, but was refused protection and sent back by the police.
ACTIVIST RAHUL EASHWAR'S BAIL PLEA REJECTED
The bail plea of activist Rahul Eashear who was arrested on Thursday for sitting on dharna at Pamba was rejected earlier in the day by the Pathanamthitta High Court. Eashwar, who is on an indefinite fast over the September 28 Supreme Court judgment which ended the decade-old ban on women's entry to the temple shrine has been shifted to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College after his condition deteriorated on Saturday.
HOUSE OF ACTIVIST REHANA FATHMA VANDALISED
Activist Rehana Fathima's house was allegedly vandalised by unidentified persons while she was attempting to reach the Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala on Friday, police said.
She had made a failed attempt to reach the temple with heavy police protection.
Police said Saturday that the attackers reached Fatima's house in Panambilly Nagar here while she was climbing the hills.
Fathima, a model and activist who was part of "Kiss of Love" movement in Kochi in 2014 against alleged moral policing, was among the two women who had reached the hilltop but had to return before reaching the sanctum sanctorum following massive protests by Ayyappa devotees.
Fathima and Hyderabad-based journalist Kavitha were taken to the hills with heavy police protection.
A mother of two and employee of the BSNL, Fathima had kicked up a row last year by posing for topless photos with watermelons in protest against a Kozhikode-based college professor's statement comparing women's breasts to watermelons.
The houses of a 46-year-old woman from Kazhakkoottam in Thiruvananthapuram district, who had also made an attempt to trek the forest path from downhill Pamba to the temple complex five km away, were also allegedly attacked by unidentified people.
The woman's houses at Thumba and Murukkumpuzha were reportedly attacked soon after she made the attempt to climb the holy hills.
She, however, gave up the attempt following protests from devotees.
TWO BJP LEADERS ARRESTED IN NILAKKAL
BJP general secretary AN Radhakrishnan and party spokesperson JR Padmakumar were held for defying Section 144 in Nilakkal.. The BJP said imposing section 144 at the Sabarimala base camps were uncalled for. The protesters had sneaked in wearing the traditional black attire of Ayyappa devotees.
NO ONE SHOULD INTERFERE IN TEMPLE TRADITIONS: RAJINIKANTH ON SABARIMALA TEMPLE ROW
Actor Rajinikanth Saturday said there should be no "interference" in temple traditions being followed for a long time, in his first response to the recent Supreme Court order on entry of women of all age groups into the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala and the subsequent protests.
Speaking to reporters here, he said there was no second opinion on equality for women in every sphere.
"But when you talk about a temple, every temple has its time honoured rituals, besides traditions being followed for a long time. My humble opinion is that no one should interfere in that," Rajinikanth said.
Noting that the top court verdict should be "respected", the 67-year-old actor however, indicated that caution should be exercised when it came to matters of religion and related rituals.
Kerala has been witnessing protests against the entry of girls and women of menstrual age into Sabarimala temple since the government had said it would abide by the ruling of the apex court.
The agitation intensified since the shrine was opened for the five-day monthly pooja on October 17.
On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench of the SC, headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra, lifted the centuries-old ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine.
The Centre on Friday asked the southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to tighten security in view of the continuing protests against the Supreme Court order allowing entry of women of all age groups to Sabarimala temple.
In an advisory, the Union Home Ministry also asked the three states to closely monitor the dissemination of various "adverse" messages through social media and the Internet services.
"All necessary precautionary measures may be taken to maintain law and order and appropriate security arrangements may be made to prevent any untoward incident," the advisory, sent by the internal security division of the home ministry, said.
The advisory said appropriate prohibitory orders be issued and a close watch may be kept on dissemination of "adverse information" through social media and internet services, to ensure that no breach of law and order takes place.
It also referred to campaigns of certain civil and women's rights activists, Left parties and fronts and pro-Left wing extremism groups in favour of women's entry into the shrine and actively using women to do so.