Amid raging protests over Sabarimala, a Keralite woman, who announced her decision to offer prayers at Lord Ayyappa shrine, on Monday complained that she was being slut-shamed and subjected to threats and abuses on social media.
Emboldened by the Supreme Court order permitting entry of women of all age groups into the hill temple, Reshma Nishanth, a 32-year-old native of Kannur district, recently put a Facebook post stating that she would visit the shrine. On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, lifted the ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine.
Claiming to be a staunch devotee of Lord Ayyappa, Reshma said she had already started the 41-day ‘vrata’ (penance) to trek to the forest temple during the annual pilgrimage season beginning on November 17. She also started wearing the ‘bead chain’ with the locket of Lord Ayyappa as part of the customary rituals before proceeding to Sabarimala.
“A large number of people have extended support to my decision to visit the shrine. But, slut-shaming and body shaming are also going on against me,” she said. PTI