Sabarimala row: BSNL transfers activist Rehana Fatima

Thiruvananthapuram: Activist Rehana Fathima, who had made an attempt to enter the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala, has been transferred by BSNL to the Palarivattom telephone exchange in the city. She will no longer be in public contact. Fathima was earlier a telecom technician working in the customer relations section at the Boat Jetty branch in Kochi. Now she has been transferred to the telephone exchange at Palarivattom.

The transfer came in the wake of a protest march organised by Sabarimala Karma Samithi on Tuesday to the Palarivattom BSNL office, seeking her expulsion. Earlier the Kerala Muslim Jama’ath Council had expelled Fathima from the Muslim community for “hurting sentiments of lakhs of Hindu devotees”.

Fathima, a model and activist was among the two women who had reached the hilltop but had to return before reaching the sanctum sanctorum following massive protests by Ayyappa devotees. Police have registered a case against the activist for hurting religious sentiments.

Supreme Court on September 28 lifted the centuries-old ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine.