Devotees allow 52-yr-old woman at Sabarimala

Sabarimala: A 52-year-old woman devotee from Trichy in Tamil Nadu on Saturday faced angry devotees ahead of her darshan at Kerala's Sabarimala temple as they surrounded her before the last few hallowed steps.

Dressed in a blue saree, Latha, who was accompanied by her husband and son, was stopped as Sabarimala traditionalists were on the look-out for women within the hitherto barred ages suspected her age and started shouting Ayyappa slogans.

They surrounded her as they assumed she was below 50 years, who were for centuries barred from entering the temple.

The couple on Saturday tried to explain that Latha has not broken any rules. That she was here at the temple in the past two years, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

It was only after senior BJP leader K. Surendran and others rushed to the spot detecting the commotion that the devotees allowed Latha passage to the sanctum sanctorum after checking her identification card.