Over 3 000 detained in India for protesting women's temple entry

File photo: Independent Media

File photo: Independent Media

Published Oct 28, 2018

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New Delhi - At least 3 347 people have been arrested in India

since Friday for protesting the entry of women into a Hindu temple in

Kerala.

The arrests were made for rioting and unlawful assembly, a spokesman

for Kerala Police said Sunday. All but 123 of the 3346 people

arrested had been released on bail.

The southern state of Kerala saw violent protests after the

Sabarimala Temple opened its doors to women of reproductive age on

October 16 following a Supreme Court order that lifted a

centuries-old ban on women of menstruating age entering the shrine.

In the days that followed, protesters forced female pilgrims to turn

back, attacked female journalists and held violent demonstrations in

different parts of the state.

A centre run by a spiritual guru who supported the court order was

set on fire, and the home of a woman who tried to reach the temple

was attacked.

Political parties have added fuel to the fire. India's Hindu

right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party has accused Kerala's local

government - run by a coalition of Communist parties - of ignoring

the sentiments of Hindu devotees. The BJP runs India's federal

government.

"The Kerala government should stop the brutality in the name of the

Supreme Court judgment," BJP chief Amit Shah said at a rally in

Kerala on Saturday.

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac said the state government was

complying with the law of the land and accused the BJP of using the

issue to foment violence for electoral gains.

General elections in India are due by May of next year.

dpa

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