Despite massive protests, Trupti Desai refuses to budge from Kochi airport

Women’s rights activist Trupti Desai on Friday refused to return from the airport in Kerala’s Kochi, where she has been blocked by protesting devotees of Lord Ayyappa for nearly 10 hours, as officials tried to talk her out of visiting the Sabarimala temple. A large group of protesters, including women and workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party, stopped Desai from leaving the Nedumbassery Airport in Kochi. Desai, along with six other young women associates, has vowed to offer prayers at the hill shrine, which will open in the evening for an annual pilgrimage.