Sabarimala/ Thiruvananthapuram : Frenzied crowds nearly lynched a women devotee, suspecting her to be young, as a diffident police let the RSS strongman from Kannur, Valsan Thillenkery, to restore peace at the Sabarimala Ayyappa shrine during the second day of Chithira atta tirunal on Tuesday.
Mr Thillenkery’s back-to-the-deity posture as he tried to rein the agitators, many of them his own cadre, triggered a controversy as he was found at the 18 holy steps without the customary “irumudikettu”. Travancore Devaswom Board member K.P. Sankaradas who criticized Mr Thillenkery’s unholy act was soon accused of committing the same sacrilege the previous morning.
The police, which had claimed foolproof arrangements for crowd control and protection for young women in line with the latest SC verdict, found itself in a predicament, unable to check crowds, menacingly acco-sting the devotee from Thrissur, Ms Lalitha, aged 52, who had arrived along with family members for her grandson’s ceremonial rice-feeding at the sannidhanam. Mr Thillenkery, who was at the sannidhanam, came down and tried to calm the crowds. He made a brief address through the megaphone as a cop in riot gear stood by holding the loudspeaker.
RSS activist circulates fake picture, held
An RSS activist held by the Mannar police in Alappuzha has admitted that he had created a fake picture of an Ayyappa devotee being booted by the police. Rajesh R. Kurup, 39, was held by the Mannar police on Monday on the basis of a petition filed by a local leader of Democratic Youth Federation of India. Rajesh admitted that he created the image to mark his protest against the entry of women to Sabarimala. The police is, however, carrying out further probe to verify the invol-vement of more persons.
According to Mannar police, various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including section 153 for promoting enmity between different groups and section 500 for defamation, as well as section Kerala Police Act were invoked against the accused.
The fake picture of a police booting a devotee carrying an Ayyappa devotee was spread through the social media. To counter this, the police social media also created memes and spread on the social media.
