KP Sasikala, the president of the Hindu Aikya Vedi whose arrest sparked a state-wide hartal in Kerala, has been granted bail by the Sub Divisional Magistrate Court in Thiruvalla. Speaking to the media after securing the bail, Sasikala said that she plans to visit the temple on Saturday, if her health permits.
“I wish to go back today if my health permits me to. Yesterday, I had carried the irumudikettu and gone all the way there only to bring it back. This is not agreeable to me and it is such a sad state of affairs," she said.
The right-wing leader, who was on a hunger strike at the Ranni police staton demanding that she be allowed to visit the temple, also specified that she has now ended the strike and is eating properly.
Sasikala was taken into preventive custody at 1.30 am on Saturday after she defied police orders by refusing to leave Pamba without visiting Sabarimala temple. After five hours of sitting in and protesting to go to the temple, she was taken into custody and sent to Ranni police station.
After the bail she also demanded that the police drop back her to Marakoottam, where she was arrested. “We all demanded that they drop us back from where they arrested me. I told them I am no cat for them to put in a sack and throw away. However, going to the temple in a police vehicle is also a breach of tradition,” she added.
Though Sasikala had approached the police by telling them that she wanted to visit the temple as she was a devotee and was above 50 years of age, police suspected that she wanted to be near the temple only to organise protests. When the temple had opened twice after the Supreme Court's ruling, KP Sasikala had been near the temple organising protests against the verdict on women's entry and even checking documents of women who planned to visit the temple. Police are looking to prevent that scenario from occurring again.
She also confirmed to the media that the police had taken no action against her. “There are no limitations to the bail. The police also let me go and submitted no remand notice at the magistrate court,” she said.
Apart from Sasikala, the police also took into custody Achara Samrakshana Samithi state convenor Prithvipal and BJP leader P Sudhir at Pamba. The dawn-to-dusk hartal was reportedly called by the Hindu Aikya Vedi and Sabarimala Karma Samithi on Saturday. The BJP has also said it would support the hartal call.
Further, several protestors surrounded the Ranni police station demanding that Sasikala be released by the cops.