Didn’t expect such a fate, says woman who was asked to turn back at Sabarimala

Travelling with 18 relatives, Naidu had heard that the Supreme Court had cleared the way for women between 10 and 50 to visit the hilltop shrine, and hoped to fulfill her life’s dream of offering prayers to the presiding deity at Sabarimala, Ayappa.

When Padmavati Naidu left her home in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijaywada city earlier this week to make the 1,100 km journey to Kerala’s Sabarimala temple, she didn’t think she would make news. Travelling with 18 relatives, Naidu had heard that the Supreme Court had cleared the way for women between 10 and 50 to visit the hilltop shrine, and hoped to fulfill her life’s dream of offering prayers to the presiding deity at Sabarimala, Ayappa.

Devotees keep their belongings at the cloak room while they move at the Pamba base camp of Sabarimala Temple as the shrine opened for Mandala-Makaravilakku pooja in the evening, at Pathanamthitta district of Kerala, India, on Saturday, November 16, 2019.(Photo: Vivek R Nair/Hindustan Times)

But on Saturday, the 42-year-old woman’s hopes were shattered at the Pambha base camp when a team of women police officers stopped her. She was told that her entry will pose a law-and-order problem and she was asked to go back. After trying to talk to the police officers, she walked back to her vehicle.

“I had not expected such a fate. I was told that the court lifted all restrictions on women. When I told police officers this, they had no answer,” she said, fighting back tears.

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Naidu was one of five women devotees between 10 and 50 years of age who were sent back on the first day of the pilgrimage on Saturday. This came two days after a five-judge bench of the top court referred to a larger bench petitions challenging its landmark verdict last year that overturned a decades-old ban on women devotees of childbearing age.

“I thought these restrictions were gone with last year’s verdict. It is sad that the police who are supposed to give protection are dissuading us. But I don’t want any trouble due to this,” said another woman devotee in her forties who was stopped and requested to not be identified.

At Pambha, tens of thousands of male devotees, many of them barefoot and dressed in the traditional black clothes, got ready for the five-km trek through thick forests and streams for a glimpse of the Ayappa. Traditionalists contend that the entry of female worshippers of childbearing age into the sanctum sanctorum in Sabarimala is a sacrilege because Ayyappa is celibate.

The orderly pilgrimage stood in contrast to scenes a year ago, when violent clashes broke out almost daily between police and enraged devotees, who slept in nearby shops and the steps of the temple.

This wall of obstacle created by devotees managed to stave off the entry of women devotees for almost three months. Some women pilgrims were pelted with stones and curses were hurled at them. At least one male devotee set himself on fire to protest against the entry of women of menstruating age.

In the early hours of January 2, two women – Bindhu Ammini and Kanaka Durga – took advantage of the darkness and entered the temple, becoming the first women to offer prayers at the temple. They had their faces half covered and walked under a heavy shroud of police security.

Within hours of their daring entry, the Sabarimala temple area had turned into a virtual war zone. Temple authorities closed the shrine to conduct a purification ritual. On the streets of many of Kerala’s biggest towns, mobs set buses ablaze and hurled bombs at the houses of prominent leaders. Over the next few weeks, police arrested nearly 10,000 people in order to tamp down on simmering tensions across the coastal state.

On Saturday, there was no signs of violence but Ammini said she felt let down by the state government. “It is sad that the police are back to the same-old tactics. The Supreme Court has made it clear that there is no stay on its 2018 verdict. How can they prevent women like this? It seems the government is bowing before trouble-makers and some zealots,” she added.

Women police officers kept a strict eye and asked female devotees to show documents to prove their age. “We are simply following orders of our superiors,” a woman inspector said. A police constable died of heart attack at the temple top and shrine later performed a purification ritual.

Rationalists also criticised the government. “The SC has made it clear it did not stay its earlier verdict. It seems the government backtracked,” said Renaissance Movement leader Punnala Sreekumar. The movement had forged a women’s chain last year across the state against the traditionalists’ move to bar the entry of women.

The Kerala government has made it clear that it would not provide security to any woman of menstruating age visiting the shrine. “ Those who need protection should get an order from the Supreme Court,” , temple minister K Surendran said on Friday.

But a number of male devotees said they approved of the police’s action because it allied with their faith. “We are very happy. Women should not be allowed to enter the temple,” said Gopal, a devotee at the shrine.