Man held for 'assaulting' woman pilgrim at Sabarimala
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 7: A 29-year old man was Wednesday arrested in connection with the incident relating to the alleged assault of a woman pilgrim at the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala, suspecting her to be of menstrual age.
Sooraj, hailing from Elanthoor in Pathanamthitta district, was one of the main accused in the incident which took place Tuesday when the hill shrine was opened for the two-day-long "Chithira Atta Thirunal," a special ritual.
Hundreds of frenzied devotees had tried to attack and prevent the 52-year old woman, Lalitha Ravi,from offering prayers at the temple.
The man was arrested under non-bailable charges--IPC 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), police said.
Investigation is on to nab the remaining accused, Pathanamthitta SP, T Narayanan, told PTI.
The man was arrested on the basis of digital evidence and photographs, he said.
Police had registered cases against 200 "identifiable" persons for trying to prevent Lalitha, who had come for the 'choroonu' (rice-giving) ceremony of her grandchild, from praying at the temple.
Clapping and chanting 'Ayyappa Saranam', a huge crowd of devotees surrounded Lalitha suspecting her to be of menstrual age, but police intervened and escorted her out.
The woman showed her Aadhaar card to them to prove that she did not belong to the "traditionally barred" age group of 10-50 years.
Police later escorted her to the shrine to offer prayers along with other women relatives.
It was the second time in the last three weeks that the doors of the hill temple opened after the Supreme Court had allowed entry of women of all age groups into Sabarimala.
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Woman tourist's death in tent collapse; Two arrested
Wayanad (PTI): Two people were arrested in connection with the death of a woman tourist in a tent collapse at a resort in this hill district, police said on Friday.
Police arrested Swachanth and Anurag, the manager and supervisor of the resort, respectively, and they charged them with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, they said.
The shocking death of the woman tourist had occurred at a resort located near a forested area in Meppadi panchayat in the wee hours of Thursday.
Nishma, a native of the neighbouring Malappuram district had died after the tent, reportedly constructed using wooden poles and thatched with grass, collapsed.
Her three friends also sustained injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, police said.
"The manager and the supervisor of the resort were taken into custody for interrogation on Thursday. Their arrests were recorded later," a police officer said.
Both of them were remanded to judicial custody till May 28, police added.
