Prohibitory orders likely to continue in and around Sabarimala

Thiruvananthapuram: Prohibitory orders imposed in Sabarimala and surrounding areas will come to end on Monday midnight.

A decision is likely by the evening regarding the extension of Section 144 on the basis of reports of the executive magistrate and the police.

According to sources, the police are likely to recommend an extension due to problems that had cropped up in the past two days. Prohibitory orders are in force at Sannidhanam, Pamba, Nilakkal and Elavunkal for the past 11 days.

Though the police had sought the extension of Section 144 until January 14, extension was approved only for four days.

The district administration was planning to quietly withdraw the prohibitory orders if the situation regains normalcy.

The authorities believe that the imposition of Section 144 has been helpful in controlling the situation.

The police, in its report, had mentioned that people who created trouble at Sannidhanam were those who were following a BJP circular that sought mass participation of its workers in its protests at the temple.

The government believes that it had been successful in convincing the high court that the protests at Sabarimala were planned.

The government also takes heart from the fact that the high court did not mention about the imposition of prohibitory orders in its order despite remarking about it earlier.

But, since there were protests and arrests during the past two days, the police are likely to seek another extension of Section 144.

A meeting called by the DGP will take a decision regarding this.