A three-member panel appointed by the Kerala High Court to oversee the ongoing Sabarimala pilgrimage season has said granting special police protection to women in menstrual age to enter the Lord Ayyappa temple would adversely affect the rights and safety of other devotees.
In a report submitted in the high court Thursday, the committee referred to the incidents when police escorted 11 women activists of Manithi, a Chennai-based outfit, to Sabarimala on December 23 and two women on the next day and said this contributed to the long queue of pilgrims from the base camp at Pampa up to the place of hold up.
The December 25 report also said because of the incidents, devotees, including women and children, had to wait for hours together for getting darshan.
"The stand off/impasse with the attempted entry of these women in the age group of 10 to 50 years continued for more than three hours and during that period there was restriction of inflow and outflow of devotees.
"We are of the opinion that granting of special protection to individuals would adversely affect the rights of other pilgrims, who are also entitled to have darshan at the Sannidhanam (main temple) without any hardship that may occur because of the commotion that may arise in the course of escorting such women pilgrims," the report said.
The panel said the possible disturbances en route to Sannidhanam would seriously affect the safety of other pilgrims besides increasing their anxiety.
"In this connection it must be noted that the route from Pambato Sannidhanam is through dense forests on both sides of which are deep ravines where there is risk of innocent pilgrims falling down and suffering injury or even death," it said.
This risk was likely to increase further especially during the Makaravilakku season (which commenced on December 30) when the inflow of pilgrims may reach beyond 1.5 lakhs per day, the panel said in its report.
The three-member panel, comprising retired judges P R Raman and S Sirijagan and senior IPS officer A Hemachandran, was appointed by the high court in November last year to oversee the pilgrimage to the Sabarimala temple in the backdrop of violent protests against entry of women in 10-50 age group.
Incidentally, after several failed attempts since October after the Supreme Court lifted the ban on entry of women in menstrual age, two young women escorted by police offered prayers in the early hours of Wednesday, triggering statewide protests.
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