'Women coming to Sabarimala should be ripped in half', says South Indian actor Kollam Thulasi at BJP rally; FIR filed

An FIR was registered against South Indian actor Kollam Thulasi for making derogatory and violent speech against women. The actor had said on Friday that women coming to Sabarimala temple should be ripped in half, ANI reported_._ According to reports, the Malayalam actor has been booked under two sections of the Indian Penal Code in the Chavara police station in Kollam, for abusing women and provoking violence on religion lines. Thulasi, who was addressing a gathering in Kerala’s Kollam city, added: “One half should be sent to Delhi. The other half should be thrown to Chief Minister’s Office in Thiruvananthapuram,” ANI further reported. [caption id=“attachment_5368161” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Actor Kollam Thulasi at NDA rally. ANI[/caption] Thulasi, a supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made the remark at an NDA rally,  India Today reported. The Week reported on Saturday that Thulasi issued an apology. “I spoke to a couple of elderly women outside the protest venue before making the speech. It was their comments that I inadvertently spurt out during my speech. I understand I made a mistake and I unconditionally apologise for the same,” the report quoted him as saying. Earlier Friday, members of the Opposition Congress and BJP in Kerala staged demonstrations to express solidarity with Ayyappa devotees even as the CPI, the key partner in the CPI-M led Left Democratic Front, said there was an attempt to “politicise” the Supreme Court order on Sabarimala, PTI reported. The Supreme Court on  28 September  ruled that women will be allowed entry into Lord Ayyappa’s Sabarimala temple in Kerala. The apex court allowed women access to the iconic temple, with the constitutional bench headed by former CJI Dipak Misra saying that rules put in place by the temple administration violated articles 14 and 25 of the Constitution. Following the apex court’s verdict, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led state government , the board, and several right-wing activists said they would not file review petitions against the order. Since the verdict, Kerala has seen a spate of protests from various groups.