Protesters force 11 TN women to return from Sabarimala

Accompanied by police personnel, the members of Chennai-based women empowerment outfit ‘Manithi’ could barely move 100 metres through the traditional forest path towards the temple when hundreds of devotees rushed down to the valley to chase them away. The women and the police had to virtually run from the scene to the safety of a nearby guardroom, abandoning the trekking plan.

Before returning, Selvi, the co-coordinator of the outfit, told reporters here that  the police had forced them to abandon their plan to visit the hill shrine and return. However, rejecting the charge, the police said that the activists had came back on their own due to security issues, adding that two cases were registered against the protesters.

The police’s attempt to take Manithi members to the shrine also triggered a political row with the opposition Congress and the BJP lashing out at the ruling CPI-M led Left Democratic Front.