Sabarimala: Government asks police to submit fresh list

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After facing massive embarrassment in connection with age and gender discrepancies on the list of young women pilgrims to Sabarimala submitted in Supreme Court, the government has directed police to prepare a fresh list by removing all anomalies.

It will re-examine the entire list, cross-check the information given during online registration with details available in the Aadhaar, ration card and voter ID. The men who figured on the list would be taken off.

Sources said the police would call the people directly and ascertain the facts about age and gender before finalising the fresh list.  

The list submitted by the LDF government in the apex, claiming that 51 women aged less than 50 had darshan at Sabarimala temple this season triggered a controversy following discrepancies related to age and gender.

Discrepancies came to light when media persons cross-checked the list. Some of the young women on the list were actually above 50, and some were men. 
The government sought to steer clear of the controversy by shifting the entire blame on the police. Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran said his department was not responsible for the discrepancies.

He said there shouldn’t be any confusion since the list was prepared as part of online registration. Industries minister E. P. Jayarajan said the government submitted a report which was prepared based on the digitally created records and documents.

However, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said the government should have been more cautious while submitting an affidavit in the highest court of the country. It cannot be done in a slipshod manner.

CPM state secretary Kodiyeri  Balakrishnan said the government didn’t prepare the records. As per the verdict lifting the age barrier, the list containing age and gender are irrelevant.

Amid all this hullabaloo, the question as to who prepared the list remains unanswered. What was the logic behind preparing the list without verification?  
Bindu Ammini, who created history having darshan at Sannidhanam along with Kanakadurga, said the government should have been more discreet while submitting the list. By making not just the names of the women but also their address and telephone numbers public, the government has put them in a problem. 
She said the SC had heard their plea and provided round the clock security. 

The government had submitted that a total of 7,564 female devotees in 10-50 group had registered for darshan and as per the digitally scanned records around 51 of them had already visited the shrine and had darshan without any issue.

The government submitted before the SC that in the digital queue management system run by Kerala police, which is an online system for booking for darshan, 16 lakh devotees had registered this year. Of these around 8.2 lakh visited the shrine.