SABARIMALA TEMPLE: Hindu hardliners who want to keep female worshippers out of a historic Indian temple forced two women to abandon their attempt to enter the sacred site on Friday despite a 100-strong riot police escort.

The Sabarimala Temple in Kerala has become the focus of a battle over gender equality, pitting religious traditionalists against progressive voices pushing for a more liberal Hinduism.

A Supreme Court decision to end a ban on women of “menstruating age” — those between 10 and 50 years — from visiting has sparked violent demonstrations on the roads leading to the complex.

On Friday, journalist Kavitha Jakkal and activist Rehana Fatima were just 500 metres (yards) from the final 18 golden steps leading to the Lord Ayyappa shrine at Sabarimala when they had to beat a retreat.

“We have told the female devotees about the situation, they will now be going back,” S. Sreejith, a senior police official in Kerala state, told local media at the hilltop site.

Around 100 Indian riot po­­lice had escorted the women towards the temple, facing off against Hindu hardliners who have been protesting the entry of women.

The journalist was wearing a helmet as police with shields and body armour accompanied her up the steep hill to Sabarimala, television pictures showed.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2018