Kochi: The Sabarimala observer committee appointed by the High Court, in its report submitted to the court, has hinted at the possibility of police connivance in facilitating the entry of Bindu Ammini and Kanaka Durga to the Sabarimala temple on January 2.
The panel comprising two retired judges of the High Court and DGP (Fire and Rescue Services) stated that it did not have any idea how the two women were allowed to pass through the gate guarded by the police.
The report was submitted after the women created history by becoming the first to enter the temple after the Supreme Court passed its verdict in September last year.
Feigning ignorance about the manner in which they reached the Sannidhanam, the panel said that only VIPs and devaswom board staff were allowed to pass through the gate. The women came accompanied by five unidentified persons and they were given the right of way. Normally, ordinary people are not allowed to go through the gate, the panel said. Congress leader and former TDB member Ajay Tharayil, meanwhile, has stated that the government was making a false claim about women entering the temple. According to him, the CCTV visuals make it clear that no women had entered the Sannidhanam and that all claims to the contrary were false. His contention was based on a careful scrutiny of the CCTV footages, he said.
