India

Women of 10-50 age group can’t visit Sabarimala Temple; ID proof is mandatory

Women of 10-50 age group can’t visit Sabarimala Temple; ID proof is mandatory

Women need to show their age proof documents to visit Sabarimala Temple. As per the reports, the temple has restricted women of age group 10-50 to visit Sabarimala Temple in Kerala. Thus, the authentic age proof document is the must for women to visit the Lord Ayyappa Temple, Sabarimala. In this temple, the entry of female devotees of age 10-50 has banned. According to the sources, the (TDB) Travancore Devaswom Board which manages the Temple has now decided to make the age proof mandatory for women to visit this temple during the ongoing pilgrims season. The final season of the three-month-long annual pilgrim will end on 14th January 2018.

The TDB president A Padmakumar said that any authentic document and certificate such as Aadhaar card can be acceptable on the routine checks at the foothills of Sabarimala temple. The officials of the Temple has restricted the women of the menstruating age group from offering their prayers at Sabarimala because the presiding divinity, Lord Ayyappa is considered to be a ‘Naishtika Brahmachari. As per the reports, the officials said the decision of banning women age group will help to avoid unnecessary arguments between women pilgrims and the police who carry out checks.

In support of the decision, TDB official Padmakumar said that recently a girl from neighbouring Tamil Nadu had tried to visit the shrine along with her father and other relatives. The checkpoints officers had expressed doubt about her age which led to the argument between father and the security personnel. Later on, when her ID card produced, she was 11 years old. Therefore, he supported the decision of banning 10-50 age group women. He also said that around 260 women of 10-50 age group have banned at Pamba during pilgrimage season which began on 15th November. However, the petition challenging the controversial ban on 10-50 age group women to visit Temple is still pending before a Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court.

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Pallavi Parmar

Journalism is my profession, Blogging and Writing are my passion, Travelling is my love, Food is my life and Feminist by nature.

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