Kerala tense after women enter Sabarimala temple
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 2 (IBNS): A tense situation prevails in Kerala following the eventual entry of two women in their 40s to the Sabarimala temple after numerous failed attempts by several groups of women to do so since the Supreme Court in September said the ban on the entry of women to the shrine was unconstitutional.
A high alert has been sounded in the state and police have tightened security, said Hindustan Times.
The Sabarimala temple has opened after being closed for "purification rituals" hours after the entry of the women - identified as Bindu and Kanaka Durga - around 3.45am on Wednesday.
"It is a fact that the women entered the shrine. Police are bound to offer protection to anyone wanting to worship at the shrine," NDTV quoted Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan as saying.
Video footage of the incident, where two women could be seen hurriedly entering the temple, has gone viral on social media.
Declaring the day as "Black Day for Kerala", the BJP in Kerala has called a two-day protest along with RSS activists, the party workers blocked the busy Kasargode Mangaluru road, said Hindustan Times. The Congress and its allies will also observe protests today.
“It is the responsibility of police to give protection to those who come and we did it. Verifying the age and other details is not our responsibility,” Kerala DGP Lokanath Behera was quoted as saying.
The two women were accompanied by a small group of policemen when they entered the temple.
On Sept 28, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had lifted the ban on women's entry into the Sabarimala temple declaring the prevailing rules unconstitutional.
Following the top court's verdict, the shrine opened on Oct 18 for the first time allowing menstruating women, belonging to the age group of 10 to 50, to enter the temple.
However, several men and women had protested outside the temple, and tried to prevent the entry of women to the shrine.
For centuries, menstruating women had been banned from entering the temple.
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