Hyd Journalist returns, Elderly, children used to stop at Sabarimala

Hyderabad: Though apex court’s orders came in Sabarimala temple issue, women are still refused permission to enter the temple.

In order to take a look at the situation after orders came in from the apex court, Kavitha Jakkal, a television journalist from Hyderabad visited the state and to her shock, she was stopped 500m from the Sabarimala temple, TOI reported.

Jakkal is currently working with MOJO TV Telugu as a news-presenter-cum-reporter.

She was made to wear a helmet and antiriot gear by the Kerala Police but was stopped by protesting devotees before she could go any further than 5kms.

In a statement to the media, Kavitha said: “I am a journalist, doing my duty. By religion, I am a Hindu. I am here to cover the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment. I have been arrested and forcibly taken to the airport. I can see the SC judgment was not implemented due to pressure. I condemn the way I was restricted. A journalist not being able to discharge her duty is nothing, but a weakness of the system. I thank the Kerala government and police for giving immense support to us. We could not complete the journey since anti-social elements have put children and the elderly in the line of fire. Given a chance, I will return to Sabarimala to offer prayers and I will come back to do my duty too.”

“We faced a dangerous situation. Police promised protection to go inside the shrine, but there were several children there. So, we had to come back.”

Meanwhile, here in Hyderabad, several rightwing activists stormed the MOJO TV office in Banjara Hills creating a ruckus with slogans against Kavitha.

In an interview with TOI, Media Nxt CEO Revathi Pogadadanda who runs MOJO TV Telugu said the MOJO crew was on hunger strike at Sabarimala on Thursday morning from 6 am demanding to allow them to cover the SC judgment.