Doubts over age of 51 women who visited Sabarimala

The affidavit filed by the Kerala government in the Supreme Court on Friday stating that 51 women in the 10-50 age group visited Sabarimala Ayyappa temple has triggered a controversy.

The Ayyappa Dharma Sena, which has been opposing the entry of women in the 10-50 age group at the hill shrine, alleged that many of the women among the list of of 51 produced by the state government counsel at the Supreme Court were actually aged above 50. They also alleged that the government was making an attempt to mislead the court.

Ayyappa Dharma Sena leader Rahul Easwar told DH that the dharma sena had personally contacted about five persons in the list. All of them were aged above 50. Their ages were entered wrongly in the identity cards. The state government should have verified facts before making such crucial statements before the Supreme Court, he said.

Easwar also said that they would be presenting the facts before the Supreme Court.

Representatives of the Pandalam Palace were also suspicious of the state government's claim. “We could not believe that 51 women in 10-50 age group visited the temple. We don’t know if it is part of attempts to sabotage the case,” palace secretary Narayana Varma told mediapersons.

Meanwhile, Kerala Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said that 7,564 women in the 10-50 age group had registered in the Kerala police’s Sabarimala virtual queue for darshan at the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple during this pilgrimage season. Of this, 51 were found to have visited Sabarimala using the virtual queue. He also added that the remaining could have either visited Sabarimala without using the police’s virtual queue, or could have dropped their plans to visit the hill shrine owing to the tension that prevailed there.