THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an effort to thwart violent protests like the ones which rocked the Sabarimala hill shrine recently, Kerala Police on Friday decided to take control of shrine by deploying a posse of force right from Vadasserikara, situated about 50 km away from Pampa ahead of a day's pooja on November 5.
The district administration has also imposed prohibitory orders (Section 144) at Elavungal, Pampa, Nilakkal and Sannidhanam from Saturday night (November 3) to Tuesday night (November 6).
The police have also declared Pampa, Nilakkal and Sannidhanam as special security zones and they will be managed by special teams led by senior police officers.
This is to ensure when a woman devotee aged between 10 and 50 turns up for darshan on November 5, no protesters will be around to block her entry.
To ensure the entire stretch between Vadasserikara and Sannidhanam remained free of protesters, the force will be deployed right from Saturday. The police have also decided to put in place tight restrictions on the movement of pilgrims from Nilakkal to Sannidhanam.
HC seeks video footage
Kochi: The Kerala High Court has directed the government to produce the video footage of the incident that happened at Nilakkal when the Sabarimala temple was opened for poojas on October 17.
3,701 arrested so far
T’Puram: The arrests in connection with Sabarimala violence have touched 3,701. So far 543 cases have been registered across the state for violence related to the entry of women in Sabarimala.
As per the directive of State Police Chief Loknath Behera, an ADGP, two IGs, 5 SPs and 10 DySPs will be camping at Nilakkal and Pampa to oversee the security measures in place which will be ensured with the deployment of nearly 1,200 police personnel.
Meanwhile, the 12-hour hartal called by the BJP in Pathanamthitta on Friday, demanding a judicial probe into the death of an Ayyappa devotee at Laha, passed off peacefully. The police said the postmortem report of Shivadasan, a resident of Sarath Bhavan at Mulampuzha in Pandalam, who was found dead at Laha on Thursday, stated that an internal bleeding due to a broken femur caused his death and no bruises were found on any other part of the body.
As per the police complaint lodged by Shivadasan’s family members, he was reported missing since October 18. Shivadasan had left home on October 18 to visit Sabarimala and he had called his family members on October 19.