Devotees staging protest at 18 sacred steps at Sannithanam on Tuesday morning.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Of the 7,300 persons who visited Sabarimala for the Chithira Attam festival on Monday and Tuesday, only 200 were real devotees who had come with pure devotional intentions, an analysis by the police has found.

The remaining 7,000-plus people were actually the cadres mobilized by various groups, including the BJP and RSS , from across the state, the internal analysis concluded. Two hundred among them had in fact taken part in the protests that led to police action last month when the temple opened for the first time after the Supreme Court verdict allowing the entry for women between 10 and 50 years of age.

Top police sources said that the police have also used their face recognition software to identify the troublemakers who visited the temple again on Monday and Tuesday. “Those who visited the temple this time and who were involved in street-fights with the police last month have been identified by the software. Such people are being put under observation as the temple again opens for the Mandalam-Makaravilakku festival on the evening of November 16,” an officer said.

However, the police could not do much as those arrested had visited the temple as devotees with irumudikkettu, after coming out on bail. “There was nothing much the police could do as they were lawfully within their rights to visit the temple as devotees,” the officer said.

The police are planning a larger operation with more officers on the field and a tighter security apparatus using technology from November 16, if the Supreme Court rejects the review petitions filed against its earlier verdict on November 13.

Despite deploying 2,000-plus police officers under the supervision of two IGs, five SPs and 14 DSPs and reserve battalion members and commandos, the protesters had given police some tense moments in Sabarimala when the stopped and intimidated a Thrissur-native woman who they felt was less than 50 years of age. Even under such a tight security, police had to depend on RSS leader Valsan Thillankeri who used a police megaphone to ask the protesters to remain calm.

The police have so far arrested 3,741 people from across the state and registered 550 cases till date in connection with the Sabarimala protests. The police have decided to introspect its strategies in Sabarimala as the protesters still had a say in Sabarimala despite the strong action by the police and the unprecedented security measures.

