Facing resentment for her attempt to enter the holy Sabarimala shrine and desecrate it following Supreme court orders which granted permission to women of all ages to enter the temple ignoring the shrines age-old tradition barring women of menstruating age to enter the holy place, activist Rehana Fathima, a BSNL employee, has been transferred to the Palarivattom telephone exchange in Kochi, where she would not be required to interact with the public, news agency PTI reported.
BSNL on Monday has begun its disciplinary procedures against activist Rehana Fathima and more action will follow after the completion of an internal enquiry, BSNL officials informed.
As per reports Sabarimala Karma Samithi carried out a protest march to the Palarivattom BSNL office on Tuesday demanding her removal from the company. However, sources informed that BSNL has not yet dismissed Fathima from her job.
Last Friday, amidst the Sabarimala tension, it was reported how the head priest at Sabarimala threatened to shut the temple door and handed over the keys as two women, Kavitha Jakkala, a journalist with Hyderabad based Mojo TV and activist Rehana Fathima tried to enter the shrine.
The erstwhile royal family of Pandalam, who are the custodians of the Sabarimala temple, asked the head priest to close the doors of the shrine as two women headed for the temple under police protection. Protesters also squatted on the path leading to the hilltop temple.
The controversial activist, Rehana Fathima had sparked a squabble calling the age-old traditional ban on menstruating age as “unconstitutional.” Pathanamthitta police had on October 20, registered a case against activist Rehana Fathima against a complaint filed by Sabarimala Achara Samrakshana Samithi, Secretary Padmakumar P, for putting up social media posts that were “communally divisive” in nature.
As she tried defying the age-old belief several unidentified people had allegedly vandalised her house in Panambilly Nagar last Friday. On the other hand, the activist was expelled from the Muslim community by the Kerala Muslim Jama’ath Council for “hurting sentiments of lakhs of Hindu devotees”.
Rehana Fathima, who stirred a major controversy by trying to enter the shrine has had a very contentious past. A model in the past Fathima has been a part of the ‘Kiss of Love’ campaign in Kochi in 2014 against the purported moral policing. She had also stirred a controversy last year after she posed topless in a photo with watermelons as a mark of protest against a Kozhikode-based college professor’s remark comparing women’s breasts to watermelons.
She has also acted in a film called “Eka” produced by her partner Manoj K Sreedhar. The film is focused on “intersexuality”. The film features nudity and several bold scenes with Fathima. The film’s poster goes, “I am intersex, I have a p**is and a v***na by birth, I want to live”.
