Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga, the first women to enter Sabarimala temple, are unable to return home due to threats by protesters. They have gone into hiding, it was reported by Reuters.
The Supreme Court in September had ordered the end of a ban on women of menstrual age – 10 to 50 years – from entering the shrine. However, women were still unable to enter the shrine in the face of protests and threats.
Other than the two, a 46-year old woman from Sri Lanka, Sasikala also entered Sabarimala. However, in her case, she provided a medical certificate which said her uterus had been removed. Another woman, Manju, – a 36 year activist – had dyed her hair and claimed on Tuesday that she had entered the temple on January 8.
The visits of women have been followed by protests all over Kerala. The initial protests had even paralysed normal life, with protesters disrupting transport, injuring even policemen and journalists.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan however, has been firm on the issue and said that the women keen on entering Sabarimala were being given protection as the government was following the Supreme Court’s order.
Bindu, a law lecturer and Kanakadurga, a civil servant have told the media that they chose to enter the temple despite the threats.
According to the report, “The women — speaking in an undisclosed location on the outskirts of Kochi — say they have since faced threats from protesters, but that they trusted the authorities to keep them safe and plan to return home next week.”
Speaking to NDTV earlier, Bindu had said, “I believe it is our constitutional right to enter Sabarimala and we exercised our right as women.”
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