Two women below 50 offer prayers at Sabarimala Temple, a first after SC verdict

Two women devotees in their 40s on Wednesday morning entered and offered prayers at Sabarimala Temple in Kerala. It is the first time a women between age 10 to 50 has managed to enter the temple after the Supreme Court’s verdict. Women devotees, identified as Bindu and Kanaga Durga, offered prayers at 3.45 am.

Bindu and Kanaga claimed that they were under 50 years of age and were provided security by the state government. This was their second attempt to enter the temple as their first attempt was thwarted by the protesters.

In a latest development, Sabarimala temple in Kerala was shut on Wednesday "for purification" after women offered prayers. As the news spread, the chief priest and temple tantri held a meeting and also held talks with the Pandalam Royal family and decided to close down the hill shrine.

This news came just few hours after lakhs of women formed a 620-km wall across Kerala to uphold gender equality in favour of the Supreme Court’s order to allow them entry into Sabarimala.

Since the Supreme Court overturned the ban on September 28, protesters had ensured that women below 50 were unable to enter the shrine. Over a dozen women tried but were stopped by a wall of protesters less than a km from the temple's entrance.