Police persuaded a thirty-something Dalit woman activist on Saturday to withhold her plan to visit the Sabarimala shrine, citing heavy rain, a day after a Kerala minister said only devotees and not activists should enter.

Manju, leader of the Dalit Mahila Federation who insists she is an Ayyappa devotee, is camping at Pamba, 5km downhill, under police protection. Officers said they were verifying her background and would decide on Sunday morning whether she can visit the temple.

The temple gates were opened on Wednesday, for the monthly puja, for the first time since the Supreme Court last month lifted a centuries-old entry ban on women aged 10 to 50 years and the state government decided to implement the verdict.

But bands of devotees have prevented the entry of any woman from the “menstrual age” so far, allegedly by throwing stones on some occasions. On Saturday, a woman was initially blocked but was allowed to enter after convincing the protesters she was older than 50.

After Hyderabad journalist Kavitha Jakkal and Kochi-based activist Rehana Fathima were denied entry on Friday, Kerala devaswom minister K. Surendran had declared the temple was not the place for activists to show their strength and only genuine devotees should enter.

“The government has the duty and responsibility to implement the Supreme Court order and give protection to devotees but not to activists,” he said. “The police should have examined the veracity and background of the women who came to trek to the shrine.”

On Saturday evening, police officers told Manju it was not possible to climb the hill because heavy rain had turned the road slippery and made it difficult to provide security, sources said.

A few BJP workers were arrested at Nilackal for violating a prohibition on the assembly of more than four people, imposed amid the devotees’ protests against the government decision to enforce the court verdict.

A member of the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the shrine, criticised a statement from tantri (chief priest) Kandararu Rajeevaru that said the shrine would be shut down if its traditional customs were violated.

K.P. Sankaradas alleged that Rajeevaru’s statement was in contempt of court since the apex court had thrown the temple’s doors open for women from all age groups.

Kerala minister G. Sudhakaran too slammed Rajeevaru’s comments, likening them to shops downing shutters during a hartal.

But the head priest of the nearby Malikappuram temple, Anish Namboothiri, defended Rajeevaru saying the tantri was the highest authority on a temple’s customs and had the powers to act if these were violated.