Supreme Court orders 24*7 cop cover for two women who entered Sabarimala

Two women who were beaten up for daring to enter the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala after the Supreme Court lifted an age-old ban on entry of women of menstrual age, got round-the-clock security from the Kerala police following a Supreme Court order on Friday.

The two women, Bindu, a 42-year-old college lecturer and CPI(ML) activist from Kozhikode, and Kanakdurga, a 44-year-old civil supplies department employee from Malappuram, had managed to enter the temple with the help of Kerala police on January 2. But upon their return, they were beaten up for defying tradition, following which they petitioned the SC.

Appearing for them, advocate Indira Jaising told the court that the duo sensed danger to their lives and needed full-time police protection.

The state government, represented by Vijay Hansaria, told the court that since its September 28 verdict lifting the ban, 51 women below 50 years had entered the temple, and the state was providing security to all women desiring to enter the temple.

The bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices LN Rao and Dinesh Maheshwari told the state, "The petitioners should be given protection and the state is responsible to give that protection. If you (state) are doing it without court orders, then continue doing it. Whether 50 or 500 women, it does not matter. Continue giving them protection."