NILACKAL ( PATHANAMTHITTA ): Tense situation prevailed at Nilackal, the base camp of Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple, with ‘devotees’ protesting against the SC verdict allowing entry of women of all ages into the temple, laying siege to the entry points. While unruly ‘devotees’ displayed their power all through the day, the police took control in the night by deploying additional force but not without consequences. A physical altercation occurred between the police and the ‘devotees’ at night, when police used force to prevent the latter from stopping vehicles to search for women.All through the day, the ‘devotees’ acted as a band of vigilantes. While a section of them staged a sit-in in a makeshift tent erected at Nilackal, others stood guard on the road to check vehicles. The checking duty was mostly carried out by women, hailing from the tribal colony at Attathodu.Two women journalists who reached Nilackal around 8am faced the wrath of the ‘devotees’ first. It took a lot of effort to convince them that they had no intention to reach Pamba, let alone Sannidhanam. A small group of journalism students, including three girls who came in a KSRTC bus were also stopped and had to be saved by cops.The police were ill-prepared to counter the offensive and the first batch of women cops reached the spot only around 2pm. By then, vigilante devotees had caused much trouble.“’We received the message around 10.30am and were engaged in other duties,” said a woman cop, standing in heavy rain, without umbrella or a rain coat. She was among the cops who stood beside the group of protesters who checked the vehicles to ensure that the passengers were not harassed.Dramatic scenes were witnessed when a tribal woman, staging a protest inside a makeshift tent, climbed a tree nearby and threatened to commit suicide by putting a noose around her neck. She was swiftly brought down and moved from the spot.Later in the night, another round of mayhem broke out when the protesters caught one woman, who arrived on a KSRTC bus. The police said that the woman, hailing from Tamil Nadu and accompanied by a male relative, was not headed to Sannidhanam but to Pamba. She was a hawker, who going to Pamba to set up a wayside shop in view of the pilgrimage season. The police moved her to their vehicle to save her from the wrath of the devotees.Additional forces were deployed after state police chief Loknath Behera issued a directive to the Inspector General ( Thiruvananthapuram ) and Pathanamthitta district police chief to act tough on whoever took law in their hands.

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