Women face ire of angry Sabarimala protesters

Sabarimala: Sabarimala protesters on Tuesday raged, intimidated and sent back at least one woman from the age group of 10-50 years as they refused to break with tradition.

After the Lord Ayyappa temple opened on Monday at 5 p.m. for the special one-day session amid tight security, there were violent protests by devotees late in the night and early on Tuesday as they found out women from the hitherto banned age group approaching the shrine.

Two women on Tuesday were apprehended on their way through Pamba and threatened after devotees found out they were without the holy kit (Irumudi Kettu).

Shouting Ayyappa slogans, the protesters stopped them from advancing any further. This was even though they were above 50 years, the police said.

The first protests were witnessed late on Monday when a 30-year-old woman along with her husband and children was stopped. Following the violent outbursts, the woman retreated.

A cameraman of a Malayalam television news channel was attacked, allegedly by angry devotees, at the Lord Ayyappa temple complex here Tuesday when he was filming a protest organised to prevent the entry of a woman, whom they suspected to be of menstrual age.

Police later confirmed that the woman, identified as Lalitha, a native of Tirur, was 52 years old.