Activist Kanakadurga, who entered Sabarimala, marries Ayyankali Pada comrade Vilayodi Sivankutty

Malappuram: Women's rights activist Kanakadurga, who entered Kerala's famed Sabarimala Temple amid the controversies over a Supreme Court verdict, has married Vilayodi Sivankutty, a fellow activist.

Kanakadurga and Sivankutty registered their marriage according to the Special Marriage Act in Malappuram on Tuesday.

"Both of us have been living alone and are activists. Now we have decided to live together. We knew each other from last May," Sivankutty said. He said both of them will continue with their activism in their ways.

Kanakadurga, along with lawyer-activist Bindu Ammini, made the historic visit to the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa Temple on January 2, 2019. Escorted by police, they became the first women in the age group of 10-50 to enter the temple based on a Supreme Court order that lifted the traditional ban on women in the child-bearing age group entering the hill shrine.

Kerala had witnessed large-scale protests by religious groups and political parties, including BJP and Congress, who opposed the apex court order and its speedy implementation of it by the CPM-led Left government.

Kanakadurga has been living alone since she got divorced from her husband in June as the Sabarimala visit created a rift in their family.

Kanakadurga had alleged that her mother-in-law assaulted her on reaching home after visiting Sabarimala. Bindu Ammini also had to face hate crimes several times after her temple visit. In the past three years, she was attacked online and harmed in the real life.

Sivankutty was part of a fringe pro-Maoist group named ‘Ayyankali Pada’ which functioned in Kerala in the 1990s.

Sivankutty, along with his Ayyankali Pada comrades Mannur Ajayan, Kallara Babu and Kanhangad Rameshan had held the then Palakkad District Collector WR Reddy hostage for more than nine hours on October 4, 1996.

It was part of a protest seeking immediate repeal of the Amendment made to the Kerala Scheduled Tribes (Restriction on Transfer of Lands and Restoration of Alienated Lands) Act passed earlier that year.

The dramatic incident was retold last year in Pada, a critically acclaimed film made by Kamal K M.