The Kerala Police have launched a massive hunt for those involved in the violence at Sabarimala and nearby areas to prevent women from entering the Lord Ayyappa temple. The police have filed case against nearly 2,000 people and issued a lookout notice against 210 people.
As many as 75 people were arrested in Ernakulam Rural, 51 in Tripunithura, and 30 in Kozhikode for unleashing violence at Sabarimala. Arrests were also reported from Palakkad, Thrissur, Kottayam and Alappuzha.
The Sabarimala temple, which opened for monthly pooja on October 17 after the Supreme Court's landmark verdict, had witnessed a stand-off over the issue with protesters preventing at least a dozen women in menstrual age from entering the shrine.
The police cane-charged the protesters as the agitations took a violent turn. Protest marches were also held across Kerala.
The mob was involved in destroying KSRTC buses, police vehicles and manhandling journalists who covered the protests against women of child-bearing age visiting the Sabarimala temple.
The police said that more arrests would be registered soon and requested the public to give information regarding the miscreants.
More than 100 cases have been registered in connection with the violence at Nilakkal and Pamba, the base camps of Sabarimala.
30 arrested in Kozhikode, let off
Thirty men, belonging to various Hindutva outfits, were arrested in Kozhikode on Wednesday for carrying out protest marches without prior permission, instigating violence and destroying public property.
Special Branch assistant commissioner Abdul Wahab V.M. said all of them belonged to either the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or other Hindutva outfits. However, they were released on bail on Wednesday itself.
