On Monday, journalists of a few TV news channels left the hilly shrine of Sabarimala in Kerala, after reports that they may be attacked. The scribes were escorted by the local police to Pampa.
Also, security was tightened up at the hilly shrine amid reports that women in the menstrual age group are planning to visit the Swamy Ayyappa Temple on Monday, the last day of the "darshan".
Devotees opposing the entry of girls and women in the age group of 10 to 50 years into the temple of "naishtika brahmachari" -- the eternally celibate deity -- are camping at the Sabarimala Sannidhanam temple complex to prevent them from reaching the shrine situated in a dense forest.
According to the latest reports, a woman armed with the Supreme Court order, permitting the entry of all women into the shrine, has approached the police, seeking help to offer prayers at the temple.
Inspector General of Police (IG) S Sreejith, a top official deputed to ensure the security of women devotees, offered prayers at the Lord Ayyappa temple Monday morning.
Visuals of the officer offering prayers with tearful eyes before the deity was telecast by the local media.
Sreejith had faced the ire of the devotees for taking activist Rehana Fathima to the temple amid tight police security.
However, the police could not take her up to the temple due to strong protests by the Ayyappa devotees.
The latest development comes five Andhra women, aged between 10 and 50 were blocked by protesting devotees on Sunday while attempting to trek to the Lord Ayyappa temple.
The police said that the women were unaware of the protests and they immediately decided to call off their journey.
While two women from Guntur were blocked by devotees at the Neelimala foothills and handed over to the police, the third was blocked at Nadapandhal near Sannidhanam. The fourth one was detained at Marakoottam en route to Sannidhanam and the fifth at Pampa. All five readily agreed to return to Pampa.
Guntur native Ravvarapu Balamma, who managed to reach Sannidhanam, returned to Pampa after the police checked her Aadhaar card and found that she was only 47. The others were identified as Vasanthi, Aadisheshi, Latha and Pushpaletha.
Police officers said the women were part of a large group of devotees who had come from Andhra Pradesh and were ignorant of the ongoing protests.
“They were just like the female devotees who used to come to Sabarimala when the ban was in force. Earlier, a special female police team used to camp at Pampa to block female devotees who belonged to the age group of 10 and 50. These three women managed to start their trek from Pampa because we don’t have such a team in place at Pampa following the Supreme Court verdict,” said a senior police officer.
(With Inputs from PTI and ENS)