File picture: Bindu Ammini (L) and Kanaka Durga (R) | Photo Credit: PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: Kanaka Durga, who scripted history by entering Kerala's Sabarimala temple earlier this month defying the temple's ban on women of menstrual age, is currently in hospital after being allegedly being hit by her mother-in-law by a wooden plank.

Kanaka Durga had returned to her residence on Tuesday only after spending two weeks in hiding. The incident took place at 7 am. Her husband and family members are reportedly against her visit to Sabarimala temple.

Kanaka Durga was then rushed to the Government District Hospital at Perinthalmanna in Kerala’s Malappuram district. She will be shifted to Government Medical College, Manjeri, later in the day for the purpose of undergoing some scans.

Police have filed a case in connection with the incident. Notably, her moth-in-law has claimed that she was also hit by Kanaka Durga.

Protests had erupted across Kerala after Kanaka Durga (39) and Bindu Ammini (40), both in the hitherto banned age group, entered the Sabarimala temple.

Due to threats by right-wing protesters and Ayyappa devotees, both the women had been hiding in an undisclosed location on the outskirts of Kochi.

​As soon as the news broke out that the two women had entered the shrine, the chief priest and temple tantri took the decision to close the shrine for "purification rituals".

In September 2018, the Supreme Court had struck down the ban on women and girls in the age group of 10 to 50 from praying at the hill shrine dedicated to Lord Ayyappa.

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