The doors of the shrine of Lord Ayyappa in Sabarimala, Kerala, opened on October 17, 2018 for the first time after the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all ages to worship in the temple. The temple remained open for the next five days for the monthly rituals in the Malayalam month of Thulam.
While most women devotees of menstruating age stayed away from the temple, a few attempted to climb the hill, only to be turned away by thousands of protesters.
As many as nine women below the age of 50 unsuccessfully tried to climb up to the hill shrine. This included two journalists, a Dalit activist and activist Rehana Fathima.
The protesters, purportedly Ayyappa devotees, have been camping at Nilackal since last Tuesday. The 'Save Sabarimala' campaign that is being supported by political parties such as BJP seeks a review of the Supreme Court verdict and vows to "protect the traditional practices" of the hill shrine.
In these five days, Sabarimala and parts of Kerala witnessed violent protests with reports of stone pelting on police forces and women journalists covering the developments too were attacked.
Here is a look at all the attempts by women of menstruating age to climb to the shrine in the last few days:
