The closet of Sabarimala temple opened, police prevented 10 women from entering

(PTI) Thiruvananthapuram, Ta. November 16, 2019, Saturday

The gates of the Ayyappa temple in Sirdhat Sabarimala in Kerala were opened on Saturday. Police have repatriated 10 women from Andhra Pradesh from Pampa base camp to participate in the worship of Lord Ayyappa.

Since these women were between the ages of 10 years and 50 years, they were not allowed to see God in the centuries-old tradition of the temple. Women of every age group were barred from women despite the Supreme Order's permission to enter the temple.

In the September 28, 2018 ruling by the Supreme Court, women of all age groups were allowed entry into the temple. However, in applying for a review of this order, the Supreme Court recently assigned the case to a larger bench of seven judges,

But his decision to allow women to enter the temple remained unchanged. However, when the temple gate opened in Sabarimala on Saturday in Thiruvananthapuram, women from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh were prevented from entering the temple.

The state government has shown its inability to provide police protection to women who want to enter the temple.

Devotees will be officially admitted at five o'clock in the morning at the Sabarimala Temple, which runs for two months. However, the temple gates were opened on Saturday evening for religious rituals by temple priests.

Three women from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh were found 8 km from the temple. The base camp in the far distance was stopped after seeing the credentials. After the women were informed about the tradition of the temple, they agreed to return.

Mandirpooja, located in the remote area of ​​Periyar Tiger Reserve, is open for worship only during the festivals of Mandalpuja, Makaravilakku and Vishu. The doors of the temple are also open during the first five days of each Malayalam month.

During the current pilgrimage season, the temple will be open for mandal worship till December 27. After that, its doors will be closed for three days. The temple will reopen on December 30 for Makarawilakku and close on January 20.

It is worth mentioning that the bench of five judges, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, sent a review of Sabarimala-related review petitions to a seven-judge bench in its ruling on Thursday, but the bench said that its ruling was not granted on September 28, 2018, allowing women to enter the temple. Thus, women of all ages cannot be prevented from entering the temple.

Kerala Government's U-turn on women's entry point

After the September 2018 ruling of the Supreme Court, the Kerala government allowed women to enter the Sabarimala temple despite all the protests. At this time, Hindutva organizations including the RSS, the BJP, had a massive uprising to prevent women from entering the temple and the Sabarimala Temple was converted into a military camp.

However, this year there has not been such an atmosphere. The Kerala government has now taken a U-turn on the issue of mandatory entry of women into temples. The government has made a rule following legal advice that if a woman wants to enter Sabarimala temple, she should bring a court order to get police protection.