Indian women attacked by activists after winning legal fight to enter Hindu temple

HARDLINE Hindu activists attacked female journalists near a temple in India’s southern Kerala state yesterday, in a bid to prevent women from entering it for the first time in centuries.

Despite a heavy police presence, the conservative Hindu groups also blocked scores of female worshippers from proceeding 11 miles to the Sabarimala temple, on India’s west coast.

The protesters vandalised vehicles belonging to journalists as they tried to access the temple, which has been at the centre of controversy following last month’s Supreme Court ruling lifting a ban on women between 10 and 50 years of age from entering the shrine.

The court ruled that the veto was “unconstitutional” as it infringed on women’s rights to equality of worship.

Right-wing Hindu groups, however, maintain that preventing menstruating women from entering the ancient temple is necessary to appease its principal deity, Ayyappan, depicted as a celibate.

For many traditional Hindu communities, menstruating females are considered unclean and unholy.

A female journalist from CNN News18 was attacked by protesters, who smashed the windows of her car within view of police. “It was shocking that officers were there doing nothing,” Radhika Ramaswamy, the reporter, said in a broadcast. “Protesters had free rein, attacking our vehicle.” “We will do everything possible to implement the law of the land,” said Manoj Abraham, the Inspector General of Police.  MJ Akbar, an Indian government junior minister, resigned yesterday to fight accusations of sexual harassment from more than a dozen women during his previous career as a journalist. He has filed a criminal lawsuit against one of the women for defaming him.

Police arrest a man during protests over the Supreme Court lifting a centuries-old ban on women entering the Sabarimala temple, which is visited by 20 million pilgrims each year. Female devotees were among the activists