After trekking 5km towards the Sabarimala temple with 300 policemen in riot gear, two women who set out to reach the sannidhanam have agreed to return. They turned around just 500m away from the temple after the priests of the temple threatened that the rituals will be stopped if they enter the shrine of Lord Ayyappa.
The women were met with protests from around a dozen priests who sat on the steps chanting and clapping. The two women, a journalist, Kavitha Jakkala of Mojo TV from Hyderabad, and Rehana Fathima, an activist from Kochi, turned back just metres away from the famous 18 steps of the sannidhanam. Police, led by IG S. Sreejith, had thrown a security ring around the women who had requested security to go to Sabarimala sannidhanam.
Kerala IG S. Sreejith told ANI that they had taken the women up to the temple and given them protection. "But 'darshan' is something which can be done only with the consent of the priest. The tantri and priest refused to open the temple for them. While we were waiting, the tantri informed me that if we attempt to take the women ahead they would close the temple."
At the same time, a third woman, Mary Sweety, was stopped midway by protesters and had to return. "It is your drawback that women are returning," she said, adding that she still wanted to go to the temple.
Kandararu Rajeevaru, the head priest of the temple, told ANI, "We have decided to lock the temple and hand over the keys and leave. I stand with the devotees. I do not have any other option."
Earlier, the women had begun climbing the hill amid strong protests. Ayyappa devotees who oppose the entry of girls and women of menstrual age into the temple have been disrupting the journey of women who want to visit the temple. A New Delhi-based woman reporter of The New York Times had made a failed bid to visit the temple on Thursday. She was stopped midway by devotees opposing the entry of women of menstrual age into the hill shrine. The journalist who was accompanied by her male colleague, a foreigner, descended the hills from Marakkoottam area in the face of mounting protests.
A case has been registered against devotees who allegedly prevented her trekking and forced her to climb down the hills.
Even as the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala opened for the the five-day monthly poojas for the Malayalam month of Thulam on Wednesday evening, protests intensified against the Supreme Court verdict.
Nilakkal and Pamba, the two major base camps of Sabarimala pilgrimage, witnessed violent protests after the agitators pelted stones at police personnel and vehicles, including state transport buses carrying devotees. Police beat the protesters to disperse them, several of whom ran helter-skelter and entered the nearby forest area. Three policemen and five protesters have been seriously injured.
(With inputs from PTI)