Kanakadurga, one of two women who entered Sabarimala, attacked by mother-in-law; 39-year-old admitted in Kerala hospital with head injury

Kanakadurga, one of the two women who made history by entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, was on Tuesday admitted in a hospital at Perinthalmanna in Malapappuram district with injuries after being hit on the head by her mother-in-law.

Kanakadurga has lodged a complaint at the Perinthalmanna police station, alleging that she has been thrashed by her mother-in-law. A case has been registered. reported ANI.

The 39-year-old woman’s mother-in-law had been upset with her for flouting custom to enter the Lord Ayyappa shrine, which was closed to women between 10 and 50 years of age for decades before the Supreme Court lifted the restriction in its September 2018 ruling, reported News18.

Kanakadurga, along with 42-year-old Bindu Ammini, had entered the Sabarimala shrine under police protection on 2 January, three months after the Supreme Court gave a historic judgment on 28 September, lifting the ban on the entry of girls and women of menstruating age inside the temple. Sabarimala tantri (chief priest) Rajeevaru Kandararu had closed the temple for an hour the same day to conduct a “purification ritual” after the two women’s visit.

Since that day, Kanakadurga, a civil servant, had been forced into hiding because of threats and protests across the state. For the past 13 days, she and Bindu had been living at an undisclosed location near Kochi, reported NDTV .

Earlier, her husband had filed a missing persons report, and his family had disowned her, the  Hindustan Times  reported. She had returned home for the first time on Monday.

While Kanakadurga had been given police protection, the eight police personnel who had accompanied her to her in-law’s house had stood outside. They had not foreseen that she could have been attacked inside the house, reported News18.

Speaking to  NDTV   days after entering Sabarimala, Kanakadurga had said that even though their decision to visit the shrine was dangerous, it was their constitutional right. “I knew my life would be in danger, but I still wanted to go into the temple. We are proud that we made it easier for women who want to go to Sabarimala now. It’s about devotion, but it’s also about gender equality,” she had said.

Earlier, the two women had  refuted the allegations of right-wing outfits and the Opposition Congress that they were playing into the hands of the Kerala Police and the state government.