Two women who defied a centuries-old ban by entering a Hindu temple in southern India are now said to be in hiding as violent protests left one person dead.
The women, aged 40 and 42, entered the Sabarimala hill temple in the state of Kerala, defying a local tradition that bars women of menstruating age from entering. This is defined as between the ages of 10 and 50.
Police told CNN that the women, who became the first to enter the shrine after India’s Supreme Court overturned the ban, are now in hiding due to a violent backlash.
Although the ban on women entering the temple was lifted in September, the temple refused to abide by the ruling and devotees have been blocking their attempts to go inside.
On Wednesday the women were escorted by police into the temple through a side gate, before they offered prayers from the top of a staircase where they could see the deity below.
Bindu Ammini, 42, and Kanaka Durga, 44, had approached state police to find a way to enter the temple after a failed attempt on December 24.
For more than a week before their visit, the women were under police protection at an undisclosed location, unknown even to their families, to prevent the plan from leaking out.
Following their visit, Conservative Hindu groups have paralysed Kerala, protesting on Thursday against the state government for allowing the women to defy the ancient ban.
Many businesses were shut after the groups called for a state-wide stoppage. Most bus services were halted and taxis refused to take passengers as some said they feared they would be attacked.
Some protesters burst makeshift bombs outside a police station in the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram, police said.
On Thursday morning, about 400 protesters - including some women - marched towards the main city junction in Kochi, the commercial capital of Kerala, to stage a sit-in, shouting slogans and waving flags, with streets otherwise deserted.
They were backed by officials from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP.
The Kerala state government is run by left-wing parties and has sought to allow women into the temple, a position that has drawn criticism from both of India's main political parties.
On Wednesday, a woman police constable was molested by five protesters near Kochi, while a protester was pelted with stones and killed in a southern district of the state, police said.
Thursday’s protests remained largely peaceful, Vijay Sakhare, Inspector General of Police Kochi Range, told Reuters.
Since Wednesday, police arrested more than 700 people and taken more than 600 protesters into preventive custody.
Officers had riot gear, tear gas and water cannons in case protests became unruly. In several places protesters damaged state-run buses.
