Kerala transgenders stopped from visiting Sabarimala
Group says police asked them to change into male attire
Thiruvananthapuram: Despite India’s Supreme Court’s verdict in October granting entry rights to girls and women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district, all women who have attempted to go there so far have been stopped by traditionalists.
On Sunday, a group of transgenders found that even they would be denied permission at the temple, which has been a male preserve for decades.
The group of four, identified as Ananya, Trupti, Avantika and Renju, said they were stopped by police, saying their pilgrimage to the temple would disrupt the law and order at the temple premises. They said police had also asked them to change into male attire, from the female attire they were wearing.
The four insisted the law permitted them to visit Sabarimala, and yet the police would not permit them to go.
They alleged that police had threatened them, besides asking them to come in pants and shirts. The group members who came from Kochi said women police officers were also not helpful to them. The four-person team had attempted the pilgrimage in the early hours of Sunday, around 3am.
Tamil women team to attempt pilgrimage
Meanwhile, the ‘Maniti Vanita’ organisation from Chennai has said it would not retract on its plan to send a group of women pilgrims to Sabarimala later this month.
Their plan is to send the women pilgrims on December 23 to the hill shrine. The group is expected to be 40 strong, and the organisation has vowed to keep sending teams until women’s entry is permitted in the temple as per the apex court’s verdict.
The Maniti Vanita team members are drawn from different parts of Tamil Nadu and some other states. They plan to reach Kottayam on December 23 and proceed to Sabarimala the same day.
Immediately after the Supreme Court verdict, the Communist Party of India Marxist-led government in Kerala had vowed to provide all assistance to women to go on pilgrimage to Sabarimala.
However, a month after the main pilgrimage season at the temple began, the government appears to be slow pedalling on the matter, with police declaring prohibitory orders around the temple and no woman being able to visit the temple yet.