Karnataka minister who stoked Sabarimala row in 2006 welcomes SC verdict

“This is a historic verdict and has delivered justice to the women of this country. There cannot be greater happiness than this,” Jayamala said.

Karnataka’s women and child welfare minister Jayamala, who stoked a controversy in 2006 after admitting she visited the Sabarimala temple when she was 27 years-old, welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict ending a ban on the entry of women between 10 and 50 years.

Kannada film actor and MLC Jayamala stoked controversy in 2006 when she admitted to visiting the Sabarimala temple when she was 27 years old. (PTI File Photo)

The former actor and Congress member of Legislative Council in 2006 claimed she touched the idol’s feet in 1986. The Kerala police subsequently filed a case against her for deliberately offending religious sentiments that was struck down by the Kerala High Court in 2012.

“This is a historic verdict and has delivered justice to the women of this country. There cannot be greater happiness than this,” Jayamala said.

The minister said the country was forever indebted to BR Ambedkar and the Constitution, adding that she wished to thank the judges for verdict. “I was pained by the incidents of the past, all the women of the country were pained by the ban,” she said. “The Supreme Court’s verdict has provided a balm for some of this hurt.”