Court issues notice to Jayamala in Sabari case

PATHANAMTHITTA: A local court here today issued notices to Kannada actress Jayamala and two others in a case relating to the actress's claim that she had worshipped at Sabarimala temple in her prime of youth, defying the temple custom which barred women in 10-50 age group entering there.Apart from Jayamala, Chief Judicial Magistrate Ramesh Kumar of Ranni issued notices to astrologer Unninkrishnan and his Bangalore-based aid Rghupathy to appear in the court on October 18.The case, filed by Kerala police, was that Unnikrishnan and Ragupathy had entered into a conspiracy and prevailed upon Jayamala to make the claim that she had visited the temple some 20 years back and even touched the idol of Lord Ayappa.Jayamala's revelation, made through a fax message sent to the temple office when a "devaprasnam" (astrological examination of temple affaris) was on in June 2006, had sparked a raging controversy.The conspiracy was allegedly hatched with the motive of embarrassing the temple priests after the devaprasnam revealed that the affairs of temple were not conducted with the required sanctity.The accused in the case had earlier approached Kerala High Court seeking a direction to the lower court to quash the proceedings on the ground that there was much delay in submitting the chargesheet in the case.However,the High Court ruled that it was for the Magistrate Court, where the chargesheet was filed, to take a decision on the plea of the accused.While Jayamala was listed as the third accused in the case, Unnikrishnan and his aide are the second and third accused.