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Kerala HC rejects anticipatory bail plea of activist Rehana Fathima

The Kerala High Court on Friday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of activist Rehana Fathima, who unsuccessfully tried to enter the Sabarimala temple in October, and directed the police to take necessary action against her.

Fathima had tried to enter the Sabarimala temple on October 19, the third day after the temple reopened following the Supreme Court order allowing women of all ages into the shrine. Women of menstruating age have traditionally not been allowed into the temple. Protestors demonstrating against the court’s verdict had then vandalized home. A day later, a Muslim council in the state expelled her from the community for “hurting the sentiments of lakhs of Hindu devotees”.

 

The Pathanamthitta Police filed a case against Ernakulam-based activist Rehana Fathima on October 22 for allegedly attempting to spread religious hatred. On 30 October, Rehana moved the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail, after the Pathanamthitta police on 22 October filed a case against Rehana for putting up social media posts that are allegedly communally divisive in nature. A case was registered under IPC section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs). The case was registered after a complaint was filed by Save Sabarimala Samithy alleging that some Facebook posts of Rehana hurt religious sentiments.

 

Fathima, a model, and activist who was part of the ‘Kiss of Love’ movement in Kochi in 2014 against alleged moral policing, 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.

A mother of two, the activist had kicked up a row last year by posing for photos topless with watermelons to protest against a Kozhikode-based college professor’s statement comparing women’s breasts to watermelons.

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