Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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The Kerala government informed the Supreme Court on Friday that 51 “female devotees” of menstrual age dodged protesters to enter the Sabarimala shrine, besides Bindu and Kanakadurga, during this pilgrimage season. A two-page note submitted by the Director-General of Police (DGP) to a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said a total of 7,564 women aged between 10-50 had registered online for darshan. The DGP said digitally scanned records show 51 women in the 10-50 category “visited the shrine and had darshan without any issue.” He said the count of 51 does not include “many others who have come as normal pilgrims and not availed themselves of the online facility.” The DGP, quoting the digital queue management system for advance booking for darshan run by the Kerala police, said a total 16 lakh devotees had registered online this year. Of these, 8.2 lakh visited the shrine. A total number of 44 lakh pilgrims visited the temple from December 16, 2018, till date. Reacting to media reports that many in the State’s list of 51 were over the age of 50 and some were even men, senior Kerala counsel, advocate G. Prakash said “The State government cannot manipulate data filled online by the pilgrims themselves.” “These 51 women devotees were among the 7,564 women aged between 10-50 years who booked their darshan in advance using the Kerala Police’s digital queue management system,” the counsel said.
