Bindu Ammini

Bindu Ammini is an Indian lawyer and lecturer at Government Law College, Kozhikode, and a Dalit activist. She is one of the two first women between the age of 10 and 50 to enter the Sabarimala Temple after a Supreme Court of India decision allowed women of reproductive age to enter the temple.

Early life and education Ammini is a Dalit who was raised in Pathanamthitta, Kerala. She is a lecturer at Government Law College in Kozhikode. She ascribes to subaltern feminism, which has a focus on the rights of women in oppressed classes.

After Ammini was publicly assaulted in January 2022, she stated, "I am not safe here anymore, the only option is to leave the country and seek asylum." Her legal advocate Prashant Padmanabhan has served a notice on the Kerala government, alleging a violation of the January 2019 Supreme Court order that requires the government to provide security for Ammini and Kanakadurga, and Ammini has alleged her Dalit identity is related to the failure of police to provide her protection.

Sabarimala entry After the Supreme Court decision allowing the entry of women between the ages of 10 and 50 into the Sabarimala Temple, and, "We were not trying to start trouble", and "Our goal was only to visit the temple. For the next generation of women, this is motivation."

First attempt On 22 December 2018, Ammini, Kanakadurga, and two other women, met in Thrissur and then attempted to go to Sabarimala. They wore black clothes and hurried inside, escorted by the police. Their temple entry was confirmed by the chief minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan. After they entered, the priests closed the temple for a purification ceremony. Her house was mobbed by people belonging to Sabarimala Karma Samiti, and other organizations which opposed her entry to Sabarimala.

Some members of the Bharatiya Janata Party called their entry a "black day". Senior lawyer Indira Jaising compared their entry to the temple entry movement led by B. R. Ambedkar, and represented Ammini and Kanakadurga in legal actions to obtain police protection. The Kerala government then withdrew its support and police protection for women entering the temple, pending the decision of the Supreme Court. After this announcement, Ammini and other activists, including Trupti Desai, went to the Ernakulam City Commissioner's office in late November to seek police protection for another attempt to visit the shrine. Afterwards, Prabhir Vishnu Poruthiyil described Ammini as the "Rosa Parks of our time", and wrote, "She has shown us the tenacity of patriarchy and has exposed the casteism lurking behind the facade of tradition." In December 2019, the Supreme Court declined to grant protection orders for the Sabarimala visit. On 24 February 2021, the Kerala High Court granted pre-arrest bail to two people alleged to be connected with the group that sprayed Ammini when she went to the Ernakulam City Commissioner's office in 2019.

Personal life When she was 18, Ammini met her husband, K.V. Hariharan, while active in student politics and they settled in Poyilkavu after their marriage. She has a daughter, Olga, named after Olga Benário Prestes who was killed in the Holocaust.