Breaking: A Third Woman Enters Sabarimala’s Holy Steps!

By Ancy Donal

Despite the widespread violence in Kerala, a 46-year-old Sri Lankan woman of Tamil origin, Sasikala offered prayers at the Sabarimala temple late on Thursday night. According to the Times Of India, Sasikala accompanied by her husband climbed the 18 holy steps and had darshan at the sanctum sanctorum at 10.55pm, just before the temple closed for the day. Sasikala and her family have been escorted by the cops and the squad gave them tight security to reach the temple.

It is reported that the woman had booked her darshan time in advance. Sasikala and her family had used the electronic queue system devised by the police and had sent her age-related records early. She had walked up the 18 Holy steps and finished her darshan by 11 pm and reached Pamba safely.

In the meantime, workers of the Sabarimala Karma Samathi (SKS), the right-wing outfit spearheading the protests against women of menstruating age entering the temple, have turned back a woman, identified as Deepa, midway at Marakootam on the 4 km uphill trek to Sabarimala temple, but the cops denied the attempt to divert the attention of the protesters.

Earlier on Wednesday two women, Bindu and Kanakadurga, under the age of 50, had reportedly entered the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala, amidst all the tight security and protests. They began their climb to the temple around midnight and reached the main temple early Wednesday morning, with police by their side. It is said that they used the different route to reach the temple which avoided the sacred 18 steps.

Violence broke out after the two women entering the temple and the sources said that one protester was killed during the stone pelting and more than 100 protestors were injured including the cops and journalist. Educational institutions were shut down, many public properties and hoses were damaged leading to a loss of 3.4 cores and many were arrested during the protest.

Meanwhile, women have been forming the ‘Women Wall’ organised by the government of Kerala to reclaim the values of renaissance. Around five million women had joined hands to form a 627-kilometre long wall across the state on the new year with celebrities such as Rima Kallingal even participating.