Two women prevented from climbing Sabarimala hills

KOCHI: The repeated attempts by Shanila Sajesh and Reshma Nishant, both hailing from Kannur in Kerala, to have darshan at Sabarimala temple failed with police shifting them to a secret place from Nilackal base camp where the women had reached on Saturday morning. Both the women had reached at Nilackal at around 4am by separate cars.


Following the information that the women would reach soon for trekking Sabarimala, top police officials asked the entire force in Nilackal, Pampa and Sannidhanam to be on alert. The women reached Nilackal by two cars, a blue Volkswagen and white Maruti, and the police took them into the station there.


After almost an hour’s deliberations with the women and consulting top police officials, the cops, in a dramatic move, escorted them to a police jeep waiting outside the main entrance of the control room. The women were told that they would be taking them to Pampa for trekking Sabarimala from there. Before shifting Reshma and Shanila from the station, the police created a smokescreen for diverting the attention of mediapersons who had been camping there following reports that the women would move ahead to Pampa.

Ten minutes before shifting the women, two police jeeps were pulled over in front of the rear entrance of the police station. At around 6.15am, three women civil police officers waiting outside the control room were instructed to get in the special officer’s room and cover their faces with shawls, who were already wearing sweaters. Later, Reshma and Shanila, both clad in black Sarees, were escorted to another jeep waiting in front of the main entrance of the temporary control room set up for the pilgrimage days in a hurry. This helped the cops to divert the attention of media and crowd waiting outside. Causing embarrassment to the women, the police motorcade moved towards Erumeli side.

Earlier attempts by Reshma and Shanila to trek the hill also had failed. The women had climbed the hill up to Neelimala on January 15. Then, a group of protestors blocked them, and the women sat on the trekking path. Later, police escorted them back to Pampa and the returned. On January 17, Shanila had posted on her FB page that “everything is over”. Moreover, Shanila posted the location of Sannidhanam on the FB creating an image that she had already had darshan.