Controversy erupts over age of several women in Kerala government's list of 51 women who entered Sabarimala

The Supreme Court in its verdict last year allowed women between the ages of 10 and 50 to enter the shrine triggering a wave of protests that almost divided the people.

The norm was not accepted by several followers of the temple for ages.

A list of names along with their age and Aadhaar details was also submitted to the court during a recent hearing into the petition seeking security for two women who claimed to have entered the temple for the first time since the verdict was announced.

List of errors?

As per NDTV report, many of the women who featured on this list say the claim isn't entirely correct. In fact, a 42-year-old woman mentioned in the list turned out to be a man from Tamil Nadu.

NDTV said it called up over 15 women from the list, most of them from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, after their details were leaked soon after the hearing in the Supreme Court on Friday. The court had refused to admit the document from the state lawyers saying they would only focus on the security of women who entered Sabarimala.

The document identifies Deivasigamani as a 42-year-old woman from Tamil Nadu, but the news channel found out that Deivasigamani is a man.

Chandira from Tamil Nadu has been mentioned in the list as a 48-year-old but her relatives later showed her voter ID card where her birth year was mentioned as 1956.

"The Aadhar card shows her birth year as 1970. But that is wrong", the relative said, showing NDTV the Aadhar copy too.

Rahul Eashwar, others slam Kerala government:

Rahul Eashwar, a member of the Sabarimala tantri family, attacked the Kerala government over the entire development and tweeted: "CPM Govt lied. Atheist Communists lied to Supreme Court. Presented Fake document to Supreme Court."

State BJP president PS Sreedharan Pillai told NDTV the Kerala government list is the "biggest lie".

Narayana Varma, a member of the Pandalam royal family, also denied the claims made by the government.

"Nothing of the sort happened. We will believe only in truth, and what has been said is not true," he was quoted as saying by NDTV.

SC directs state govt to provide round-the-clock security to two women who entered Sabarimala temple:

In a major development, the Supreme Court on Friday directed the Kerala government to provide security to the two women who first entered the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala this month.

They entered the temple by defying traditionalists who have opposed women of menstruating age from offering their prayers in the temple.

The two Bindu Ammini (40) and Kanakadurga (39) earlier claimed they fear that their lives were under threat since entering the hilltop shrine, creating a new chapter in the history of the temple.

They had petitioned the apex court seeking security.

Hailing the order, Ammini was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times, “Our faith in judiciary has increased manifold. The judiciary has come to our rescue at a time when certain sections of the society are treating us as criminals as if we committed a big sin. We did only what is permitted by the highest court of the country. The latest directive will encourage many other women to trek to the temple.”

“We were facing many threats. Even our children and relatives were not spared," she said.

The two women had gone two hiding for almost two weeks after they allegedly received threats from hardliners since entering the shrine.

Kanaka hospitalised after mother-in-law beats her:

Kanaka was admitted to a hospital recently after she was attacked by her mother-in-law.

According to reports, when Kanaka returned home after staying in hiding since her Jan 2 entry into Sabarimala, her mother-in-law hit her on the head.

Soon after the news of the two women's entry spread and protests began, Kanaka's husband had filed a missing report and her family disowned her, said reports.

The two women received death threats after their entry.

"I knew my life will be in danger but I still wanted to go into the temple," Kanaka Durga had told NDTV after her daring visit. "It's about devotion but it's also about gender equality."

She had said her family had strongly opposed her entry into the shrine.

Why is the controversy?

On Sept 28, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had lifted the ban on women's entry into the Sabarimala temple declaring the relevant rules as unconstitutional.

Following the top court's verdict, the shrine opened on Oct 18 for the first time allowing menstruating women, belonging to the age group of 10 to 50, to enter the temple.

However, several men and women had protested outside the temple, and tried to prevent the entry of women in the shrine.

Kerala witnessed protests after Kanaka and Bindu had entered the temple. 

 

Image: Wikimedia Commons