Thiruvananthapuram, November 7: In a successful bid to stop women below 50 years to enter Sabarimala temple, protesters forget to follow one of the rituals of the holy shrine. On Tuesday morning, acting on the rumours that women below 50 years are trying to enter the temple, protesters obstructed the entry by placing them on 18 holy steps. Ironically, while protecting ‘sanctity’ of the holy shrine, its protectors failed to realised that they were not carrying irumudi (the traditional cloth bundle containing votive offerings), which is a violation of the custom.

According to a report published in The Times of India, Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) member Sankar Das also violated the tradition by climbing the holy steps without an irumudi. The protesters also raised slogans. Yesterday also, clashes started after protesting devotees targetted media persons at Sabarimala Temple, resulting in a photojournalist reportedly getting injured.

According to an ANI report, Amrita TV cameraman Biju has been injured during protests at Sabarimala Temple over the entry of a woman devotee. Protestors suspected the woman to be below the age of 50, and hence believed that she violated the ban on the entry of women between the age of 10 to 50 years. However, cops later clarified that the woman was 52-years, and had come to visit the temple, along with her son. She offered her prayers to the shrine, under police protection later. Congress, BJP and RSS Using Sabarimala Temple Issue to Topple Kerala Government: CPI-M

Earlier on October 17, the doors of Sabarimala had opened for six days for the first time since the Supreme Court allowed women of menstruating age to enter the shrine, but none could able to enter the holy shrine till date.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 07, 2018 09:13 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).