36-year old Dalit activist woman claims to have offered prayers at Sabarimala shrine
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 9: A 36-year-old woman from Kerala Wednesday claimed she has trekked Sabarimala and offered prayers at the Lord Ayyappa shrine.
The chief minister's office and the police, however, refused to confirm the woman's claim that she visited the shrine Tuesday.
Manju, a native of Chathannoor, made the claim in a Facebook post, saying she prayed in front of the presiding deity on Tuesday and none of the devotees present there protested.
"I started the trip from Thrissur and visited the shrine on January 8. I spent almost two hours at the Sannidhanam (main temple complex). I also sought help from the Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sangham members who happily helped me to offer prayers," she claimed.
The state had been on boil since January 2, when two women of menstrual age entered the hilltop shrine in the wee hours escorted by police personnel, three months after the Supreme Court lifted a ban on entry of girls and women in the 10-50 age group.
A Lankan woman below 50 years also succeeded in entering the temple a couple of days later.
BJP and right-wing outfits, who have been protesting against the state government's decision to implement the September 28 order of the apex court, intensified the agitation, leading to widespread violence after Kanakadurga and Bindu entered the shrine.
The protests also saw return of political violence after a gap with houses of BJP-RSS and CPI(M) leaders coming under country-made bomb attacks in the past few days.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
