Fifty-one female devotees in the age group of 10-50 years have entered the Sabarimala temple through an online process since the Supreme Court removed the bar on their entry in September last year, the Kerala Government on Friday told the apex court.
The submission was made during the hearing of a plea filed by Bindu and Kanakadurga, the two women who had entered the temple on January 2, seeking security.
The apex court ordered the state to provide two of them round-the-clock foolproof security.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L N Rao and Dinesh Maheshwari said it was only going into the aspect of security of the two women, and would not like to entertain any other prayer made in the petition.
“We deem it appropriate to close this writ petition at this stage by directing the State of Kerala to provide adequate/full security to the petitioner Nos. 1 (Bindu) and 2 (Kanakadurga) herein which would be provided to the petitioners round the clock,” the Bench said.
It was hearing the petition of 42-year-old Bindu, a college lecturer and CPI(ML) activist from Kozhikode district’s Koyilandy, and Kanakadurga, 44, a civil supplies department employee from Angadipuram in Malappuram, who had entered the Sabarimala shrine on January 2.
The state has witnessed violent protests over the issue.
At the outset, senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, appearing for the Kerala Government, told the bench that till now 51 female devotees have entered Sabarimala temple and all of them are being provided adequate security.
“In this regard it is submitted that a total of 7,564 women between the age group of 10-50 years had registered for darshan and as per the digitally scanned records around 51 women in this group have already visited the shrine and had darshan without any issue,” the note of Kerala government given to the court stated.
He said that the two petitioners were given adequate and effective protection from the temple to a safe place and they continue to remain under protection.