Bindu Ammini is a lawyer, activist and feminist from Kerala. She is considered to be one of the two first women to enter the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple. The Supreme Court of India (SCI) had barred women between 10 and 50 years of age from entering this temple due to the age of menstruation. SCI decided in 2019 that women of reproductive age would not be allowed to enter the temple.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Bindu Ammini was born in 1975 (age 44 years; as in 2021) in Kerala. He earned a master’s degree in law.
Physical Appearance
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
Family
Bindu Ammini belongs to a Dalit family from Pathanamthitta.
parents and siblings
After her parents’ separation, Bindu Ammini was brought up by her illiterate mother.
husband and children
Her husband’s name is Hariharan and he is a lecturer in Kerala. He is the former Kozhikode District Secretary of Yuvajanvedi. The couple has a daughter named BH Olga. She met her husband at the age of 18 and after marriage they settled in Poyilkavu, Kerala.
livelihood
After completing her law studies, Bindu Ammini worked as a teacher at Calicut University for some time. Later, she started working as an advocate in the Koyilandy court, and at the Thalassery campus of Kannur University, she is working as an assistant professor in the School of Legal Studies. Apart from this, Bindu Ammini runs a grocery shop in Kerala with her husband. Later, she also started serving the Bhim Army formed by Chandrashekhar Azad in Kerala.
activism
Entry into Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple
In 2019, the Supreme Court of India greenlighted the entry of women aged between 10 and 50 into the Sabarimala temple. This court decision prompted Bindu Ammini to join several social media groups on Facebook, including Navothana Keralam Sabarimalailekku (Renaissance Kerala), which was created for women who wished to visit the temple. On this Facebook group, she met Kanakadurga, who was the second woman to visit the Sabarimala temple along with Bindu Ammini on 2 January 2019.
Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga
First try to enter the temple
Bindu Ammini along with Kanakadurga and two other women attempted to enter the Sabarimala temple on 22 December 2018. First, they gathered in Thrissur and then went to the temple. On 24 December 2018, two other women refused to enter the temple during the yatra, while Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga were stopped by male protesters. Later, she campaigned for the lack of police protection and went on a hunger strike.
Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple in Kerala
Second attempt to enter the temple
On 2 January 2019, at around 3:45 am, Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga entered the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple. They wore black clothes and quickly ran towards the temple; But, the police saved them. Soon after the incident, videos of her entry into the temple went viral on several social media platforms across India with messages of protest and support. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan later confirmed the entry of Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga into the temple. Soon after his entry into the temple, the temple priests closed the temple for purification rituals. After Bindu’s successful entry into the temple, she is given police protection and is forced to go into hiding.
Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga under police protection
After the incident, people of Sabarimala Karma Samiti attacked his house. After his entry into the temple, other organizations also campaigned and protested against him. While talking to a media correspondent in February 2019, he had said that he was receiving death threats. Bindu Ammini said in an interview that she believed in subaltern feminism which was concerned with the rights of backward class women. He further said that the opposition to his temple entry was politically influenced. He narrated,
We were not trying to start trouble,” and “Our aim was only to visit the temple. This is an inspiration for the next generation of women.”
It was called a black day when members of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Kerala entered the temple. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who was also a supporter of the Supreme Court’s decision, described Bindu and Kanakadurga’s entry as historic.
Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga showing the victory sign after their successful entry into the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in 2019
Third attempt to enter the temple
The Supreme Court of India transferred the case to a larger bench for review in November 2019. Soon, the Kerala government also stopped providing security to Bindu and Kanakadurga and also withdrew its support following the pending decision of the Supreme Court. Last November, Bindu and other activists went to the Ernakulam City Commissioner’s office to seek additional police protection as they wanted to enter the temple once again. He was attacked with chilli/pepper spray by an unidentified protestor at the Ernakulam City Commissioner’s office. Soon, he was admitted to the hospital. The National Commission for Women had asked the Kerala DGP to look into the matter. In December 2019, the Supreme Court of India refused to provide any police protection for women entering the temple. On 24 February 2019, the Kerala High Court granted pre-arrest bail to two people accused of spraying chilli powder on Bindu Ammini.
The Kerala High Court claimed in its judgment,
RSS/BJP and many Hindu organizations opposed the entry of women activists into the Sabarimala temple. However, the Kerala government actively supported the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple. Bindu Ammini was a ‘worker’, not a devotee.”
religious viewpoint
In a conversation with TIME, an online media house, he expressed his religious views as follows,
I am an atheist. If I believe in anything powerful, it is subaltern feminism.
Facts/General Knowledge
- In November 2020, he released a video claiming that a person had threatened him with acid attack on the phone. Soon, on her complaint, the police registered a case of 354A (punishment for sexual assault and battery) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) against the man.
- In 2020, Bindu Ammini was seen supporting the farmers’ protest in New Delhi.
Bindu Ammini at the farmers’ protest in Delhi in 2020
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn