Trupti Desai In Kochi, To Visit Sabarimala To Offer Prayers At Lord Ayyappa Shrine

Desai and a few other activists who landed at the Kochi International Airport early Tuesday have been taken to Kochi city police commissionerate.

Women's rights activist Trupti Desai reached here on Tuesday to proceed to Sabarimala to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa shrine.

New Delhi: Women's rights activist Trupti Desai reached Kochi on Tuesday to visit Sabarimala to offer prayers at Lord Ayyappa shrine. She said she has come up with the 2018 order of the Supreme Court permitting entry of women of all age groups into the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala. "We'll visit Sabarimala temple today on Constitution Day. Neither state government nor police can stop us from visiting the temple. Whether we get security or not we will visit the temple today," the activist said. "I will leave Kerala only after offering prayers at the shrine," she added. Desai, along with a few other activists who landed at the Kochi International Airport early Tuesday have been taken to Kochi city police commissionerate. She said they preferred November 26 to visit the shrine as it was the Constitution Day.

Women's rights activist Trupti Desai at Kochi, early morning today: We'll visit #Sabarimala temple today on Constitution Day. Neither state government nor police can stop us from visiting the temple. Whether we get security or not we will visit the temple today. pic.twitter.com/7f4WMK6opI

— ANI (@ANI) November 26, 2019

The Pune-based Desai is part of a seven-member team that is headed for the Sabarimala temple. She had made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the temple in November last year, weeks after the Supreme Court lifted the ban that prevented women and girls between the age of 10 and 50 from entering the famous shrine. Meanwhile, Bindu Ammini, one of the two women who first entered the Sabarimala temple in January this year, said, "A man sprayed chilli and pepper on my face." The incident took place outside the Ernakulam city police commissioner's office today morning. Traditionally, girls and women in the menstruating age group of 10-50 years were barred from offering prayers at the temple, the presiding deity of which is "Naishtika Brahamachari" (perennial celebate). Over a dozen women have so far made unsuccessful bids to trek to the Sabarimala shrine to offer prayers during the Mandalam season.