Sabarimala stir: 6 BJP youth activists held at Nilackal for violating sec 144

Six BJP youth wing activists were arrested at Nilackal Thursday for staging a protest in violation of section 144 of the CrPC, which has been clamped in the area in view of violent demonstrations against allowing women in the menstruating age group inside the Sabarimala temple.

Police removed the slogan-shouting Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha members who launched a sit-in protest at Nilackal, the gateway to Sabarimala, soon after the BJP state President P S Sreedharan Pillai announced in Thiruvananthapuram BJYM activists would violate section 144 in areas including Nilackal.

While being forcibly bundled into a police vehicle, state BJYM president Prakash Babu said not a single woman in the age group of 10 and 50 would be allowed to climb the hills which houses the temple.

Police said strong action would be taken against those disrupting the law and order.

Police had on Wednesday also promulgated section 144 of CrPc in four places including Pamba, Sannidhanam to check any kind of protest and violence. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) prohibits an assembly of more than four persons in an area.

Meanwhile, Sabarimala Thanthri (Chief Priest) Kantaru Rajeevaru appealed to those involved in the controversy not to make Sabarimala a centre of conflict.

e dismissed the alleged propaganda through the social media that doors of the temple would be locked if women in the "banned" age group reach the shrine.

Asserting that he was a law-abiding citizen, the priest appealed to the women in menstruating age group not to climb the hills, hurting the sentiments of large number of Ayyappa devotees.

Tense moments prevailed at Pamba and Nilackal at the foothill on Wednesday as protesters opposing the Supreme Court order allowing the entry of women of all age group in the temple had turned violent and clashed with police, which resulted in baton-charge by the latter.

Stones were pelted at police vehicles and buses.

Several persons including an old woman were injured in the stone-pelting and connected incidents.