Two women who began their ascent of Sabarimala on Friday morning were blocked by a protesting mob at the entry of the shrine. The standoff comes amid bloody protests and crackdown by the Kerala police against religious groups who took exception to a Supreme Court order allowing women between the age of 10-50 entry into the temple. This, they claimed, was against the temple traditions.
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The woman reporter from Hyderabad, and an activist, began the Sabarimala trek on Friday, a day after a New Delhi-based reporter of a foreign media outlet made a failed bid to visit the shrine. Kavitha Jakkala, a reporter with Mojo TV, had reached Pamba on Thursday, but began the ascent only on Friday morning citing security concerns, reported The News Minute.
Police led by IG S. Sreejith have thrown a security ring around the women, donned in full riot gear, who had requested security to go to Sabarimala sannidhanam.
So far, they have not faced protests by devotees opposing the entry of girls and women of menstrual age into the Lord Ayyappa temple.
The woman is in her late 20s. If she climbed the hills, she would be the first woman from the menstruating age group to visit the Sabarimala temple of Lord Ayyappa after the Supreme Court order permitting women of all age groups to enter the shrine.
On Thursday, the New Delhi-based woman journalist was stopped midway by devotees opposing the entry of women of menstrual age into the hill shrine.
The journalist 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 allowing women of all age groups to enter the hill shrine.
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.
-inputs from PTI
