Tension prevailed on the Sabarimala trekking path for over three hours after a group of protesters and pilgrims blocked two young women pilgrims near Neelimala on Wednesday morning.
The women, Reshma Nishanth and Shanila Sajesh from Kannur, carrying the irumudikkettu reached the Neelimala path along with six men, led by Sreyas Kanaran of the ‘Renaissance Kerala to Sabarimala’ Facebook group by 4 a.m.
The group started their trek under police protection by 4.30 a.m. A group of pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh who questioned them at Neelimala-bottom were taken into custody by the police.
Soon more pilgrims, mostly from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, sat on the trekking path, chanting bhajans, blocking the women.
The women and the men who accompanied them sat on the ground on the Neelimala path and the police cordoned them off from the protesters.
Though senior police officers tried to convince the women of the tense situation, they remained firm on undertaking the pilgrimage, saying they reached Pampa after observing penance for 100 days. With the situation turning tense after a mob of protesters started advancing towards Neelimala-bottom, the police forcibly removed the women to Chelikkuzhi, then to the Pampa police control room and later to Nilackal. They were taken to an unidentified location later.
The men who accompanied them accused the police of adopting a “lenient stand towards Sangh Parivar activists who illegally blocked the pilgrimage of the women devotees”.
Travancore Devaswom Board president A.Padmakumar said the police shifted the women and their aides from the Neelimala path to ensure their protection.
Not possible
Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said that hundreds of women might have offered prayers at the Sabarimala temple this pilgrimage season and it was not always possible for the government to verify the age of each devotee.
