Sabarimala Temple Doors to Close Today After Keeping ‘Banned’ Women Out; Police Warn Media of Targeted Attack

On Sunday, devotees chanting Ayyappa mantras blocked six Telugu-speaking women from reaching the famed shrine.

Thiruvananthapuram: Doors of the Sabarimala temple, which were opened on Wednesday for the monthly puja after the apex court last month lifted the centuries-old ban, will close on Monday.

Despite the top court allowing entry of women of all ages into the hill-top shrine, not a single woman in the age group of 10 and 50 has so far reached the temple.

According to police sources, 12 women in the age group 10 to 50 have so far been prevented from offering worship at the Lord Ayyappa temple, since it opened for the monthly pooja.

On Sunday, the devotees, up in arms against the implementation of the Supreme Court order lifting ban on entry of women in 10-50 age group, chanting Ayyappa mantras blocked six Telugu-speaking women from reaching the famed shrine.

Meanwhile, police officials informed media in Sannidhanam and Pamba to vacate the area as they had inputs of a targeted attack being planned on mediapersons.

The state has been witnessing massive protests by Lord Ayyappa devotees opposing the entry of girls and women of menstrual age into the Sabarimala temple since the government decided to implement the apex court order.

Several women journalists, belonging to leading news channels, were stopped from going to the hill-top shrine on October 17, the day the temple doors opened for the time after the top court ruling.

The angry protesters even manhandled the women scribes and vandalised their vehicles.

On Friday, a Hyderabad-based TV journalist Kavitha Jakkal and a Muslim woman activist Rehana Fathima were stopped merely 500 metres before the temple. The two women, in full security cover by police, started climbing the temple, but decided to abort their journey following the protests.

In a never-before move, around 30 employees attached to the temple tantri and the chief priest went on protest as they stopped their rituals and sat down in front of the hallowed 18 steps leading to the sanctum santorum and sang Ayyappa hymns after they heard that the two women were about to reach the shrine.

Meanwhile, amid the standoff between the LDF-led Kerala government and the BJP, the Congress and several fringe Hindu groups over the implementation of the SC verdict, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) which manages the temple, is expected to submit a report to the court on the ground situation. It is also likely seek more time to implement the verdict as the main pilgrimage season begins next month.