Devotees arrive at Sabarimala Temple (PTI)

SABARIMALA: The LDF government, desperate to appear more than ready to implement the historic Supreme Court verdict allowing women aged between 10 and 50 to pray at the shrine, has turned Sabarimala into a police camp. But when the temple opened on Monday, special care was taken to post only women police officers aged above 50 at the “sannidhanam (area around the sanctum)”, an apparent contradiction that neither the government nor top police officials bothered to explain.

Close to Monday evening, a 30-year-old woman, accompanied by her husband and two kids, approached police at Pamba seeking protection to climb the hill. The woman was identified as Anju, a resident of Cherthala in Alappuzha district . “She is at the police control room here now. No decision has been taken so far on whether to take her to the temple or not,” PTI quoted a police official as saying late on Monday. She reportedly told top police officials that she was acting at her husband’s behest and wasn’t particularly interested in darshan herself. Sources said that Anju’s relatives have been summoned so that there is more clarity on her intentions.

For the first time, women police officers — all above the age of 50, though — were posted at the temple.

The day remained incident-free but a tense standoff prevailed as there were several heated exchanges between police and groups of devotees protesting against frequent frisking.

