* A woman reporter from Hyderabad and another woman devotee began trekking to Sabarimala hill on Friday. Police have thrown a huge security ring around them. The woman journalist had requested security to go to Sabarimala Sannidhanam to carry out her professional duty.
* The woman journalist is in her late 20s and if she climbed the hills, she would be the first woman from the menstruating age group to visit the Sabarimala temple of Lord Ayyappa after the Supreme Court order permitting women of all age groups to enter the shrine.
* This comes a day after a New Delhi-based reporter of a foreign media outlet made a failed bid to visit the shrine. The woman was turned back by protesters despite a police cordon and prohibitory orders in place.
* On Wednesday, a woman devotee from Andhra Pradesh, who attempted the trek, was forced to return in a similar fashion following intimidation from angry protesters.
* With protesters continuing to disregard the apex court’s order, the administration imposed a curfew in Illavungal and Sannidanam areas on Thursday which will remain in force till Friday.
* Pathanamthitta district administration imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 for two days, but protesters in twos and threes, dressed in the traditional black of pilgrims and carrying irumudikettu (offerings to the deity Ayyappa) on their heads, caused trouble in several places on Thursday.
* On Tuesday, protesters stopped and checked vehicles, including state-run buses, and forcibly turned back female passengers in the 10-50 age group.
* The 12-hour hartal called by right-wing Hindu organisations, under the banner Karmaseva Samithi, slowed the progress of pilgrims on Thursday. State buses, which a majority of the pilgrims use, did not operate until noon on Thursday after buses were attacked and damaged the day before. Taxis stayed off roads fearing attacks.
* At Nilackal, members of the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha violated prohibitory orders and took out a march. They were arrested on Thursday afternoon.
* Buses were damaged at Kuttippuram, Chamravattom and Kalachal. One bus driver was injured. Two policemen were also injured in violence near Tanur.
* The Sabarimla head priest, Kandaru Rajeevaru on Thursday appealed to the women, belonging to the age group of 10-50 who were restricted as per the centuries-old traditions of the shrine, not to come to Sannidhanam and create problems.
* The state gvernment has maintained that it was duty bound to implement the Supreme Court order.
* The LDF government also accused the BJP, RSS and Congress of indulging in “double talk” and playing “dirty games” over the Sabarimala issue.
* RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had on Thursday said the Supreme Court verdict did not take into consideration the nature and premise of the tradition that has been accepted by society and has given rise to "divisiveness" in the society.
* On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench of the SC, headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra, lifted the centuries-old ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine.
(With agency inputs)
from Times of India https://ift.tt/2ExptOU
