On January 2, the chief priest of the Sabarimala temple had closed the doors of the shrine for performing Suddhikalasam (purification rites) after it was confirmed that two women entered the temple through the back gate and had the darshan of Lord Ayyappa.
Thiruvananthapuram: The state commission for Scheduled Caste and Tribe Commission (SC/ST) has issued a show-cause notice to Sabarimala thantri for performing purification rituals.
On January 2, the chief priest of the Sabarimala temple had closed the doors of the shrine for performing Suddhikalasam (purification rites) after it was confirmed that two women entered the temple through the back gate and had the darshan of Lord Ayyappa.
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Commission member S Ajaya Kumar informed this matter via Facebook. As one of the women, who entered Sabarimala was a Dalit, the rituals performed by the thantri can be considered as pure ‘untouchability’ and the notice was sent due to that, he said.
The notice had asked the thantri to appear for hearing on January 17. As he did not appear before the commission, the show cause notice was sent, he said.
The women, who entered the shrine were identified as Bindu from Kozhikode and Kanakadurga from Malappuram. Earlier, on December 24, Bindu and Kanakadurga attempted to visit the shrine for the first time, but were taken back by the police due to security issues.
Meanwhile, on January 18, the Supreme Court directed the Kerala government to provide 24x7 police protection for Bindu and Kanakadurga, the two women of menstruating age, who trekked to Sabarimala and entered the temple.
The court passed the order while hearing the plea of the duo on January 18 seeking 24X7 security. The two approached the apex court on January 17 seeking round-the ‘aclock security following life threats.
Earlier, on January 17, the advocates of the duo directly met the Chief Justice of India and requested that the court consider their plea urgently.
Following that, the Chief Justice had instructed the apex court to consider the plea on January 18. The plea filed in the apex court had explained the protests staged against the two. The plea also mentioned that the situation is such that the two cannot live in Kerala after trekking to Sabarimala.
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