E V Sreekumar, a citizen journalist, has written to us refuting actress Jaimala’s version that she was pushed inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala temple making her fall at the feet of the idol of Lord Ayyappa. Following is an excerpt from Sreekumar's letter to Ibnlive.com.
I have been keenly following the Sabarimala story on CNN-IBN. As a photojournalist, I started my career with an assignment in Sabarimala 17 years ago and have covered the festivities in the temple innumerable times. I feel that the Kannada actress’ statements are wrong. Hence I have drawn a sketch of the temple itself — the woman in red is the Kannada actress in the VIP queue.
Usually there is a heavy rush in the ordinary queue on the right side where police personnel are deployed to control the crowd.
However, in the VIP queue one is guided by a ring of police personnel to the temple sanctum sanctorum, 12 feet from the diety by junior temple member volunteers.
Even if there is minor shoving around all she could have done was fall on the steps (as shown in the sketch) of the sanctum sanctorum.
She could never be thrown 12 feet into the temple by a mere shove. There are never more than five or eight devotees at a time. Hence her story is false and misleading.
Even if she can climb into the sanctum there are a battery of priests inside who can stop her mid way.
Regards
Seekumar EV
Chief photojournalist
Malayala Manorama daily
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