Devotees waiting to offer prayers at Sabarimala Temple during the Mandala Pooja festival in Sannidhanam on Sat... Read More

SABARIMALA: As the Sabarimala temple opened on Saturday evening for the two-month annual festival amid tight security, the Kerala police in defiance of the Supreme Court order, stopped women pilgrims at Pamba, 5km from the hill-top temple of Lord Ayyappa, checked their documents for proof of age and allowed only those above 50 to proceed further. According to police, 10 women pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh “who were below 50” were turned back.

In September last year, the Supreme Court had held that the centuries-old ban on women and girls aged 10 to 50 was illegal and unconstitutional. On Thursday, the court referred the Sabarimala issue to a larger seven-member bench , stating that detailed examination is required into the matter, without staying its 2018 verdict.

The LDF government, which was proactive in implementing 2018 Supreme Court order during the previous pilgrim season, had indicated on Friday that it wasn’t in favour of young women going to Sabarimala, despite Thursday’s verdict making it clear that there was no stay on allowing women to have darshan of Lord Ayyappa at the shrine.

Though police refused to reveal details of the women who were forced to turn back, TOI managed to identify two of them as Manthayaru (49) and Sati Anasooya(38), both natives of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. The two women reached Pamba as part of a group of around 30 people who are on a pilgrimage tour of Kerala.

The Renaissance Protection Committee, a LDF-backed organization, said it was outraged by Saturday’s developments and criticised the ruling LDF government, saying it had “gone soft” on its stand on the issue and this would only help “weaken the cause”.

Heavy security arrangements are in place at Sabarimala. Around 1,400 police personnel have been deployed at the Sannidhanam (the area near the sanctum), led by a superintendent-rank officer and 10 deputy SPs. At Pamba and Nilackal, there are around 720 and 700 police personnel respectively on duty, and this includes around 250 women police officers. In addition, separate teams of Quick Reaction Force, Rapid Action Force, police commandos and National Disaster Response Force are also deployed at the Sannidhanam. At Pamba, metal detectors and X-ray scanners have been installed. More than 50 women police personnel have been entrusted with verifying women pilgrims’ ID cards.

A senior police officer told TOI that they have been instructed by the government not to permit women from the “barred age group” from climbing the hillock. “We are checking the ID cards of all women at Pamba itself to avoid further confusion at Sannidhanam. Women police officers have been deployed at Pamba to ensure that,” he said.

Manthayaru said that they reached Pamba hoping that they could have Ayyappa darshan but the police blocked them. “We could not climb the hill as the police said we cannot go there because we are aged below 50. So, we are waiting here for others from our team to return from the temple,” she told TOI near the Ganapathi temple at Pamba.

“After finding them to be in the barred age-group, we advised them to go back. They cooperated with us and did not proceed further. Around eight other women who were part of the group also returned with them,” a police officer told TOI.

As the temple opened on Saturday, thousands of devotees from Kerala, Tamil Nadu , and other neighbouring states offered prayers at the temple. At 5 pm, Kandararu Mahesh Mohanararu opened the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and performed poojas.

A K Sudheer Namboodiri took charge as Sabarimala ‘melshanti’ (chief priest), while MS Parameswaran Namboodiri is likely to take charge as chief priest of the adjacent Malikappuram devi temple by November 23.



In Video: Sabarimala not a place for activism: Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran