Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
clear sky
weather
OMAN
25°C / 25°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Police on high alert ahead of temple opening to women

1013824
1013824
minus
plus

NEW DELHI: As the Sabarimala temple is set to open for women on Wednesday, the police are on high alert to prevent any untoward incidents. Though senior officers are of the view that the Supreme Court verdict is unlikely to sway many young women to visit the shrine, they are not leaving anything to chance and will extend protection to female pilgrims.


The landmark ruling will take effect from Wednesday and for the first time allow all female pilgrims to enter the temple.


But tensions have escalated in Kerala ahead of the day, with thousands marching against the court’s decision and warning of bigger disruptions if the temple’s traditions were not protected.


Mobs stopped cars from approaching the temple on Tuesday to demand women turn back, reported the Press Trust of India.


Hundreds of additional police had been put on high alert across the state to protect devotees, authorities said.


“Things are under control, and we are closely monitoring the situation,” Kerala police spokesman Pramod Kumar said.


Women are permitted to enter most Hindu temples but female devotees are still barred from entry by some, despite intensifying campaigns by rights activists against the bans.


— AFP


“It is our constitutional right, and we will stand up for it,” said Trupti Desai, an activist who planned to visit the Ayyappa temple despite receiving death threats.


“People are trying to bully me but I am not scared.” Two years ago, activists successfully campaigned to end a ban on women entering the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra state.


Women were also permitted to enter Mumbai’s Haji Ali Dargah mausoleum after the Supreme Court scrapped a ban in 2016.


Devotees opposed to the last month’s court ruling have argued that it affects the core belief of the decentralised Hindu temple system, where deities have certain rights.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies have supported marches in different parts of Kerala over the last few days.


The BJP, a Hindu nationalist outfit, has historically been on the margins of state politics in Kerala, but vowed “a massive agitation plan” in the state if the ban on women entering temple was not reimposed.


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon