Thiruvananthapuram: The Vigilance Wing of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has found five officials guilty regarding the visit of 11-year-old daughter of Sabarimala chief priest Narayanan Namboodiri at Sabarimala Sannidhanam last month. The girl aged 11 years and five months had reached Sannidhanam and offered prayers on April 17. The girl was accompanied by the Chief priest’s mother and they stayed at Sannidhanam till next day10 am.

In the report submitted to the TDB and Sabarimala Special Commissioner, the Vigilance team said that three officials of the state police and two officials of the TDB are guilty in the incident. These officials are two women civil police officers and two contract staff of the TDB posted at the temple entry to restrict women belonging to the banned age group of 10-50. The other accused is the personal security officer of the chief priest, an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of police.

As per the report, the two women cops had initially blocked the girl child, but later allowed following the intervention of the ASI. The ASI posted at Sannidhanam was sent by the chief priest to facilitate the smooth travel of his family members. The women cops had recorded the matter on the duty register. The TDB staff, two retired female Board employees, were on unauthorized absence. They had reportedly accompanied a relative of one of them to Sannidhanam at the time.

The girl who offered prayers, then visited her father. She and her grandmother stayed at a room allotted to the helpers of the chief priest. It is learnt that the chief priest, in his explanation to the Board, said that the girl had not attained puberty and there was no violation of the prevailing customs in the temple. The Board will discuss the Vigilance report and disciplinary action, if any, would be taken at its next meeting . The Special Commissioner will forward a copy of the report to the High Court. The ban on women in the age group of 10-50 was imposed by a Division Bench of the HC in 1991.

Video on Sabirimala Ayyappa Temple