Activist Rehana Fathima, who attempted Sabarimala trek, arrested

The 31-year-old BSNL engineer was unsuccessful in her bid to enter the Lord Ayyappa shrine after the head priest of the temple threatened to lock the temple door if she entered it. The attempt raised a storm that prompted the Travancore Devaswom Board to announce that it would move the Supreme Court with a detailed report on the “alarming” incidents in the aftermath of its verdict lifting age bar on entry of women to the shrine and the Kerala government urging that the temple not be made a place for activism. She was later also expelled from the Muslim community for “hurting the sentiments of lakhs of Hindu devotees”.

Rehana Fathima, however, is no stranger to controversies or standing up to them. She broke into the headlines in March this year when, in protest against comments from a professor in Kozhikode who said “women should cover their watermelon-like-breasts”, she posted pictures of herself with watermelons covering her breasts. Hours after sharing the pictures, they were taken down by Facebook after a flurry of trolls and threats.

In 2014, she participated in the Kiss of Love campaign in Kerala against moral policing.