Indian temple priests turn back women, defying court rulings »Manila Bulletin News



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By the Associated Press

The Hindu pilgrimage sites, defying a ruling from India's top notch to let them enter.

The priests threatened to stop rituals and prayers in the Sabarimala temple in southern Kerala state if women aged 10-50 tried to enter the shrine.

Hindu priests and temple staff sit on a protest against a ruling from the Sabarimala temple, one of the largest Hindu pilgrimage sites, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, Friday, Oct. 19, 2018 The country's supreme court had on Sept. 28, lifted the temple's menstruating age, holding that equality is supreme irrespective of age and gender. Two young women, a journalist and an activist, were forced to turn back after they had reached the precincts under a heavy escort police. (AP Photo / MANILA BULLETIN)

Hindu priests and temple staff sit on a protest against a ruling from the Sabarimala temple, one of the largest Hindu pilgrimage sites, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, Friday, Oct. 19, 2018 The country's supreme court had on Sept. 28, lifted the temple's menstruating age, holding that equality is supreme irrespective of age and gender. Two young women, a journalist and an activist, were forced to turn back after they had reached the precincts under a heavy escort police. (AP Photo / MANILA BULLETIN)

"We have decided to lock the temple and hand over the keys and leave. I stand with the devotees. I do not have any other option "said Kandararu Rajeevaru, the head priest.

Two young women, a journalist and an activist, were forced to turn back after they had reached the precincts under a heavy escort police.

Kadakampalli Surendran, Kerala state minister, said the temple was not responsible for providing security to activists. He implied that the authorities initially thought that the two women were going to be guilty.

The minister 's statement against the fact that the state government, run by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), vowed to implement the Supreme Court' s ruling.

The two women are putting on protests from the priests who are on the steps leading to the temple, clapping and chanting religious hymns. Hundreds of police had set up a security ring as the two women trekked 5 miles (3 miles) to the temple complex.

Hundreds of Protestants on the subject of menstruating the ages of men and women in the world of supremacy.

The temple will remain open for five-day monthly prayers until Oct. 22.

Protesters vowed to file with the Supreme Court next week. They say the celibacy of the temple's presiding deity, Lord Ayyappa, is protected by India's Constitution, and that women of all ages can worship at other Hindu temples. Some Hindu figures consider menstruating women to be impure.

The Travancore Devaswom Board, which runs the temple, held a meeting in the Supreme Court next week highlighting the "dire situation prevailing at the temple," said A. Padmakumar, the board president.

The entry of women between the ages of 10 and 50 to the centuries-old temple was banned informally for many years, and then by law in 1972.

In 1991, Kerala High Court confirmed India's Supreme Court.

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