In an interesting turn of events, Sabarimala Activist from Kerala, Bindu Ammini, was attacked by protestors using pepper spray as she came out of the office of the Commissioner. Bindu Ammini, who had joined Trupti Desai’s team at the airport, was attacked by a protestor with pepper spray when she was coming out of the Commissioner’s office to take some papers from the car, which included the court order.
A team of gender rights activists led by Trupti Desai was adamant on entering the shrine but only to be disappointed however later they called off the 12-hour-long standoff with devotees opposing the entry of women in the menstrual age group into Sabarimala temple.
Desai announced the decision to go back to Maharashtra after police, citing security reasons, denied them protection amid protests by devotees.
On the other hand, Bindu Ammini, the woman who managed to visit Sabarimala temple last year with her friend Kanakadurga, also reached the Commissioner’s office to join Trupti’s team.
By then, protestor had reached the police chief’s office and there was a heated war of words between Bindu and this group. Bindu told the media that someone in the group threw chilli and pepper powder on her face. “They attacked me. See the pepper on my hands,” she claimed.
An altercation between Bindu and the protestors, who identified themselves as Ayyappa devotees broke out immediately after the attack.
Adding more turns to the tale, the Kerala government dubbed Desai’s attempt to visit Sabarimala as a “conspiracy”. As soon as the team of activists landed at the airport here, they went to the city police Commissionerate seeking protection to proceed to the hill shrine.
Trupti Desai is a 33- year- old controversial gender equality activist from Pune and the Founder of the Bhumata Brigade. She is a crusader for women’s rights and has led several protests against the restriction on the entry of women at religious shrines.
In 2016, she visited the Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai to offer prayers but could not enter the inner sanctum. In 2018 too, she tried to enter the Sabarimala shrine but cancelled her plan after she was stopped by the protestors at the Cochin Airport. In 2012, Trupti Desai also unsuccessfully contested for the Pune Municipal Corporation on a Congress ticket.