With just a day left for Sabarimala temple to reopen, large groups of women protestors have been stationed at the base camp in Nilakkal to halt women traveling to Pamba and other areas closer to the temple. OnTuesday morning, protestors forced three women to deboard a KSRTC bus after blocking the vehicle at Nilakkal. The three women were students of journalism who were traveling to Pamba to cover the protests. They were asked to return to Kottayam, from where they began the journey. Two other women journaliststraveling to Pamba were stopped at Nilakkal and asked to report from there, according to sources. Reports also state that a female devotee threatened to commit suicide at the protest venue.
According to reports, for the past eight days, women groups in the massive Namajapa protests against the Sabarimala verdict, which allows women of all ages to enter the temple, have been blocking women from traveling to areas near the temple. Meanwhile, the state government has deployed a battalion of female officers to ensure law and order in the
region. A team led by Thiruvananthapuram Range IG Manoj Abraham is also conducting random checks on vehicles carrying devotees, according to reports. To ensure law and order at the protest venue, ADGP Anil Kanth has been asked to travel to the protest site by State DGP Loknath Behera.
Meanwhile CM Pinarayi Vijayan has stated that the government will ensure that all facilities will be made for women to enter Sabarimala. "We will not allow anybody to take law into their hands," he said at press meet. The CM has also made it clear that a review petition will not be submitted and that the government will implement the Supreme Court's verdict in the case.
Meanwhile thousands of protestors led by the BJP (Mahila Morcha), RSS and and groups such as the Nair Service Society have been holding state-wide protests against the entry of women into the temple. The Kerala Unit of Shiv Sena has also threatened to stage mass suicides if women enter the temple.