Sabarimala row: Contempt petition filed against BJP's Kerala president, 4 others

A contempt petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday against Bharatiya Janata Party's Kerala state president PS Sreedharan Pillai, Sabarimala Temple priest and three others for not implementing the apex court's order.

Earlier Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had declined to give sanction to file the petition. So the petition was filed directly in the top court.

On Wednesday, BJP state general secretary K Surendran, who was taken into custody for moving towards Temple with a group of people, was granted bail by a Thiruvalla Court. Surendran and others accompanying him were arrested after he got into a scuffle with police at Nilakkal base camp on November 17. He was taken into preventive custody for attempting to get through to the area which was put under Section 144.

Minister of State (MoS) for Tourism KJ Alphons, who is currently on his way to the Temple, on Monday said that the situation at the hill-top shrine of Lord Ayyappa is worse than an emergency situation.

A string of protests was witnessed in Kerala in October when the temple opened for the first time after the Supreme Court passed the order, allowing women of all age group to enter into the shrine. Earlier, the entry of women aged between 10 and 50 years was prohibited into the shrine.

Over 3,505 protesters were arrested and at least 529 cases were filed in connection with the series of incidents inciting violence in the state.