https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/flashpoint-indian-temple-closes-without-admitting-women
Flashpoint Indian temple closes without admitting women
A police van, believed to be carrying a woman, surrounded by protesters near the Sabarimala temple at Pamba, Kerala, on Oct 21, 2018.PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Published
Oct 23, 2018, 8:31 pm SGT
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NEW DELHI (AFP) - The latest window for worship at a flashpoint Indian shrine has closed without a single female devotee of menstruating age being admitted, despite a court order overturning a ban on their presence in the temple.
Mobs of Hindu hardliners prevented women aged 10 to 50 from getting into the Sabarimala temple complex when it opened last Wednesday (Oct 17) for the first time since the Supreme Court reversed a ban on women of menstruating age from worshipping at the temple.
The shrine in southern Kerala state is only open on a handful of auspicious days every year, and a number of Hindu women between these ages had flocked there in the wake of the court order.
But the ruling had enraged traditionalists, including supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Protesters, including women and children, massed at the base of the shrine when it opened last week, threatening women trying to reach it.
Some smashed car windows and clashed with police.
Flashpoint Indian temple closes without admitting women
A police van, believed to be carrying a woman, surrounded by protesters near the Sabarimala temple at Pamba, Kerala, on Oct 21, 2018.PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Published
Oct 23, 2018, 8:31 pm SGT
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Email
NEW DELHI (AFP) - The latest window for worship at a flashpoint Indian shrine has closed without a single female devotee of menstruating age being admitted, despite a court order overturning a ban on their presence in the temple.
Mobs of Hindu hardliners prevented women aged 10 to 50 from getting into the Sabarimala temple complex when it opened last Wednesday (Oct 17) for the first time since the Supreme Court reversed a ban on women of menstruating age from worshipping at the temple.
The shrine in southern Kerala state is only open on a handful of auspicious days every year, and a number of Hindu women between these ages had flocked there in the wake of the court order.
But the ruling had enraged traditionalists, including supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Protesters, including women and children, massed at the base of the shrine when it opened last week, threatening women trying to reach it.
Some smashed car windows and clashed with police.
