Even as the gates of the Sabarimala Temple opened on Wednesday evening amid violent protests over the Supreme Court decision to lift the centuries-old ban on the entry of women of menstrual age, a woman, said to be a Delhi-based journalist of a foreign media outlet, began trekking to the Sabarimala, according to news agency PTI. The police have thrown a security ring around the woman accompanied by her colleague, a foreigner. However, there is no confirmation regarding her age. Read More | #MeToo: Patiala House Courts to hear MJ Akbar's defamation case against Priya Ramani today According to the local TV crew, the journalist is in her late 40s and if she successfully managed to climb the hill, she would be the first woman of the menstrual age group to visit Lord Ayyappa’s shrine after the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment on September 28 permitting women of all age groups to enter the shrine. On Wednesday, hordes of activists of Hindu fringe groups took to the streets and besieged the road leading to the temple. The protesters heckled women journalists and activists, smashed their vehicles and young female devotees of Lord Ayyappa were turned back as police deployed there failed to maintain the law and order. Also Read | ISHQ SLOW SLOW from Sachin Karande’s film JACK & DIL is out The violent protests also stalled the entry of the women whose ban was lifted by the apex court as by available indications none from this age group made it to the famed shrine. Meanwhile, prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC were put in place in Pamba and Nilakkal by Pathanamthitta district authorities following the following the violence and a strike called by right-wing outfits on Thursday.

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