Police on high alert ahead of Indian temple opening to women

NEW DELHI: India deployed hundreds of police on Tuesday in southern Kerala state where protesters have threatened to stop women from entering a Hindu temple, despite a court ruling they can pray there.

India’s Supreme Court in September overturned a prohibition on women of menstruating age, between 10 and 50, from entering a temple for the deity Ayyappa. Activists have said the long-standing ban reflected an old but still prevalent belief that menstruating women were impure.

The landmark ruling will take effect from Wednesday and for the first time allow all female pilgrims to enter the temple, considered one of the holiest for Hindus and visited by millions of devotees each year. But tensions have escalated in Kerala ahead of the day, with thousands marching against the court’s decision and warning of bigger disruptions if the temple’s traditions were not protected.