Sabarimala protests updates: Congress says TDB's should file review plea instead of detailed report
Buses and auto-rickshaws are meanwhile off roads in Kerala due to a hartal called by various Hindu outfits against the decision to allow women of all age groups to enter the Sabarimala temple.
New Delhi, Oct 17: In the three days that Sabarimala has been open for the first time since the landmark Supreme Court order, no woman in the age group of 10-50 has made it to the shrine.
Two women, one activist and another a journalist, on Friday (October 19) began their ascent towards the Sabarimala Temple where the entry of women between the ages of 10-50 is prohibited. The women of the said age group have not been allowed for centuries but last month the Supreme Court scrapped the traditional practice.
Massive protests are being held at the base of the hill from where devotees begin their trek to the temple opposing the Supreme Court order. The locals are hell bent to stop women from entering the shrine saying that it is an age old practice.
Amid violent protests, the doors of Sabarimala temple in Kerala opened on Wednesday for the first time since the Supreme Court lifted the centuries-old ban on entry of women of menstrual age but by available indications, none from this age group made it to the famed hilltop shrine.
[Sabarimala verdict: No consensus on filing review petition]
The verdict had however received mixed responses with several thousand protesters flocking the streets of Kerala demanding an overturn in the ruling citing that it is against their traditional beliefs.
[Sabarimala: SC's verdict to be implemented, anyone who wants to go will be protected, says Kerala CM]
A meeting by The Travancore Devaswom Board, a temple body yesterday with various stakeholders including the Pandalam royal family and Ayyappa devotees failed to come to a conclusion on the matter.
Meanwhile, the Kerala Police has said that no attempts to threaten law and order, or to stop women devotees from entering the shrine will not be tolerated.
#Kerala: Police in Pamba detain Lord Ayyapaa devotees protesting against entry of women of all ages in #SabarimalaTemple pic.twitter.com/0ySJjh1nmr
— ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2018
Kerala: A woman devotee Mary Sweety returned midway after she was stopped by protesters at Pamba; says "I don't know about them ((journalist Kavitha Jakkal & woman activist Rehana Fatima). If women have returned, it is your drawback. I want to go there." #SabarimalaTemple pic.twitter.com/vzit2Skxqr
— ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2018
Congress President Mulapally Ramachandran on Tuesday declared that the party won't object to any woman coming to the temple but wished that this does not happen.
State BJP president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai expressed full support to the protesting believers.
On Tuesday, hundreds of devotees, including a large number of women, protesting against the Supreme Court ruling, gathered at Nilakal and started checking all vehicles bound to the temple town.