'Purification rituals' at Sabarimala after women enter shrine
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 2 (IBNS): The Sabarimala temple has been closed for "purification rituals" after two women activists in their mid 40s entered the shrine on Wednesday, latest reports said.
In a first since the Supreme Court gave its verdict last year, two women, reportedly in their 40s, entered the Sabarimala temple in Kerala on Wednesday.
"It is a fact that the women entered the shrine. Police are bound to offer protection to anyone wanting to worship at the shrine," NDTV quoted Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan as saying.
Video footage of the incident, where two women could be seen entering the temple, has gone viral on social media.
The women reportedly reached the temple around 3.45 am.
According to some media reports, these two women have been identified as activists Bindhu and Kanakadurga.
India Today said the two women were accompanied by a small group of policemen in civil clothing.
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 prevailing rules 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 to the shrine.
For centuries, menstruating women had been banned from entering the temple.
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