Comments
A Sri Lankan woman of the traditionally restricted age group entered the Sabarimala temple at night on Thursday, according to the police and the State administration. She is the third woman to enter the temple after the Supreme Court opened the doors of the hill shrine for women of menstruating age.
On Thursday, a hartal had been called by Sangh Parivar organisations and the BJP to protest against the entry of two other women in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Samithi not to relent
Sasikala, the 46-year-old Sri Lankan, was initially quoted saying she was not allowed inside the temple. But the official version is that she was directed to hold back the truth to ensure her personal safety.
This happened on a day when the State was limping back to normalcy after a series of violent incidents during the hartal on Thursday. Prohibitory orders are still in place at a few places in the southern and northern districts.
The Sabarimala Karma Samithi, a Sangh Parivar affiliate that had called the hartal with BJP’s support, reiterated in Kochi that it will not rest until Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan ‘is shown the door.’
Meanwhile, the police have said that 1,369 arrests have been made in 801 cases registered so far in connection with the violence. At least 717 others have been kept under preventive custody.
No police security
Police sources said more arrests are likely in the coming days.
The Director-General of Police has demanded reports from the district police chiefs on the violence. A series of allegations have been made that traders, who were willing to open their establishments in a bid to defy the call for hartal, were not provided adequate police protection.
The traders had resolved earlier that they would not give in to hartal calls as they suffered massive loss due to enforced shutdowns. The year 2018 saw 97 such hartals being called by various parties and outfits.
On Thursday, traders attempted to open their establishments but their defence crumbled as mob ransacked their shops. The police presence was inadequate despite promises of protection made earlier .
The Director-General of Police reportedly conveyed his displeasure in this connection to the district chiefs, blaming them for not acting on time and for ignoring advance intelligence information on possible violence.
Meanwhile, the Devaswom Board (temple administrators) has decided to demand an explanation from the Tantri (high priest) on the circumstances that forced him to conduct ‘purification rituals’ at Sabarimala on Thursday.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.