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Trupti Desai Cancels Sabarimala Visit as Police Denies Protection

"Police told us that there is a threat to our life and we will be insecure here," she said.

Updated
India
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A team of gender rights activists led by Trupti Desai on Tuesday night, 26 November, called off their decision to visit the Sabarimala shrine, after police denied them protection citing security reasons and the recent Supreme Court decision to review its 2018 order permitting women inside.

Earlier during the day, Bindu Ammini, one of the first women to enter Sabarimala after the historic verdict of the Supreme Court, was attacked with chilli spray by a man outside the Kochi Police Commissioner’s office.

She was stepping out of the Commissioner's office when the incident occurred, reported The News Minute. The perpetrator, identified as Srinath Padmanabhan, has been arrested, police said.

One of the protesters reportedly said, “You will not go to Sabarimala from here,” and went on to accuse her of being a naxal.

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Desai condemned the attack on Ammini.

"We had discussions with the police officers of the Kochi police commissionerate. Police told us that there is a threat to our life and we will be insecure here. So we decided to go back but we will return to Sabarimala. We will continue our fight," she told reporters.

She and her team had directly approached the city police commissionerate after landing in Kochi, seeking protection to visit the shrine.

Following this, a large number of Ayyappa devotees, BJP activists and Sabarimala Karma Samiti gathered outside the commissionerate protesting against their visits.

Pune-based Desai had made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the temple in November 2018, weeks after the Supreme Court lifted the ban that prevented women and girls between the ages of 10 and 50 from entering the famous shrine.

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Topics:  Sabarimala 

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