Kerala CM responsible if something happens to me: Trupti Desai

Pune, Nov 15: Activist Trupti Desai, who has vowed to visit Sabarimala Temple in Kerala amid protests over entry of women into the shrine, on Thursday said the state government and the police would be responsible for her security.

Desai, founder of the Bhumata Brigade, earlier wrote to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and sought police protection for her group when they visit Sabarimala on November 17.

"I have not received any response from the Kerala government. If any incident occurs, its responsibility will be on Kerala CM and DGP," the Pune-based women's rights activist told news agency ANI.

Desai along with six other women would be arriving in Kerala on Friday for a visit to the Sabarimala temple on Saturday. The entry of women in the age group of 10-50 years is prohibited in Sabarimala Temple and it is a custom that is being followed for over a century, but the Supreme Court in September ruled against it and said that women of all ages must allowed into the shrine.

Following this, massive protests broke out across Kerala last month when the portals of the Lord Ayyapa shrine were opened for the first time this season.

In 2016, Trupti Desai had led a group of women activists to Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar in Maharashtra that ended a 60-year tradition of women not being allowed to enter the shrine.