Now human rights bodies have to intervene in temple matters. The Kerala State Human Rights Commission has asked the Travancore Devaswom Board to allow male employees at Lord Ayyappa temple to wear underwear while counting currency notes and coins offered by devotees. All these days, the staff at the hill shrine of Sabarimala had to strip themselves of all clothing, except their dhotis, before entering the counting chamber. The temple authorities enforced this practice after they found that money was being smuggled out, concealed in the undergarments. Some details from the Asia News International (ANI) story: The Kerala State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has asked the Travancore Devaswom Board to withdraw the dress code that barred staff employees who are trusted with counting money at the shrine from wearing underwear. More than 600 employees engaged in counting currency notes and coins offered by devotees will benefit from Justice N Dhinakar's order.

Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) has reactions from people in the Hindi film industry on the Mallika dress issue. We are reproducing them all in full. Shilpa Shetty: "I'm just happy that the obscenity case against my dress in Tamil Nadu is quashed. I won.” Malaika Arora: "I think Mallika has become a favourite punching-bag in the press. Leave the girl alone. It's ridiculous. Maybe the moral police in the South should take a closer look at their own films for obscenity.” Rahul Khanna: "I feel quite sad for the moral police. Perhaps they're jealous of Mallika's legs. They seem to have a lot of free time on hand? Why not use it for issues more important than length of skirts?” Hema Malini: "I was there in Chennai. Mallika's dress was looking good. She too was looking very good. But perhaps the dress was a little too short for the occasion. Who knows!”

Mallika Sherawat is once again in the news, and of course, in trouble. This time she has received a notice from the Chennai Police for a skimpy and translucent dress she wore at a show in the city recently. The one gunning for Sherawat is the Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK). Now, don't you dare take umbrage at HMK's outrage, for you will get it back in turn. They are quite a hypersensitive lot. HMK activist S R Kaniraj has lodged a complaint with the Periyamet police station in Chennai, saying that Mallika has "caused mental agony and hurt to the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu by wearing a revealing mini skirt, exposing her back and sitting cross legged in front of the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi." HMK wants the police to take action against Mallika. But the police decided to consult some lawyers before acting. The lawyers said that how to dress was one's personal matter.

A year has rolled on, but Mallika Sherawat's "obscene" performance case of the last New Year's Eve still rolls on as well. A Mumbai court has directed three witnesses to record statement in the case. Metropolitan Magistrate G Wankhade at Bandra court has examined the evidence presented by the complainant Vinod Jain, a so-called social worker. Wankhade has issued summons to Praveen Gala, Avinash Jain and Halim Qureshi, three witnesses in the case to appear before the court and record the statement on March 1. After recording the statement of witnesses, the court is likely to issue summons to Mallika Sherawat. The complainant in his petition stated that Mallika Sherawat performed in a skinny dress on New Year's Eve in 2006 at a five star hotel. He claimed that he will bolster his case with a CD.

The government of Kerala is very considerate. It has considered following the footsteps of teh authorities of the Guruvayoor temple. It hs condescended to allow women teachers in the state to wear churidars. How thoughtful. The New Indian Express has some backgrounder to this: It is learnt that the intervention of Education Minister M A Baby also fuelled the idea. The order pointed out that since male teachers are allowed to wear shirts and pants female teachers should be allowed to wear churidars as a gesture of gender justice. The order also allows students and teachers in Teacher Training Institutes (TTIs) and BEd centres to wear churidars. Traditionally, teachers in the State both in schools and colleges were not allowed to wear churidars. The State Government is also thinking of allowing teachers in colleges to wear churidars, sources said.

The Tamil Nadu House is seeing some heated discussions—not over water, but actress Shriya Saran's wardrobe. The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), for instance, thinks she reveals too much. From the New Indian Express: It all started with PMK whip T Velmurugan calling for censorship on the small screen arguing that Namitha turned up in revealing attires as the judge of a dance show telecast on a private satellite television channel. Likewise, Shreya, the heroine of the runaway hit Sivaji - The Boss starring Rajnikanth, had “dressed objectionably” at the movie's silver jubilee function held recently in Chennai. The silver jubilee celebrations were telecast in television channels. The actor had later apologised for the skimpy outfit after a Hindu organisation threatened legal action. Some humour too:

Now, an Islamic militant outfit in Manipur has asked Muslim girl students to refrain from wearing frock and skirt or any western dress in educational institutions in the state from next year. The 'information and publicity' secretary of the People's United Liberation Front (PULF), Belal Khan wants that all Muslim girl students should wear the dress accepted by Islamic law. Huh. The statement issued by the militant said that anyone violating the diktat of the outfit would be punished. Wait, there's more. Khan said that civil society, school authorities, and students should not not appeal to PULF to relax its diktat. The man said those who violated the diktat would be punished from January 2008 onwards.

The Supreme Court has upheld the Guruvayoor temple’s decision to allow entry of women wearing churidar, the Hindu has reported. A bench comprising Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justices RV Raveendran and JM Panchal Monday dismissed a special leave petition challenging the August 23 Kerala High Court order, which upheld the temple’s decision. Manoj V. George, counsel for a devotee K. Mohandas, argued that the change in the 5,000-year-old practice of allowing only women wearing the traditional sari hurt the sentiments of a section of worshippers. He said the Guruvayur Devaswom Managing Committee, running the temple, had no right to interfere in spiritual matters. “Today it is the dress code, tomorrow it may be something else.”

This article from the Times of India is being reproduced here in full: The bikini has never had it easy in these parts. When the Miss World contest was held in Bangalore in 1996, the city erupted in protests. Women’s groups objected to the commodification of women’s bodies, fundamentalist groups raged that it was against Indian culture while Left groups accused the Karnataka government of selling out. To avoid further conflict, the organisers shifted what they suspected to be the root of the problem to the Seychelles - the bikini round.

Guruvayoor temple authorities are reconsidering their decision to change the old dress code that allowed only saree-clad women to come to pray, says a Daily News & Analysis (DNA) report. On July 26 this year, the temple authorities decided to allow women dressed in salwar-kameez also to pray at the temple. Thsi volte face would be because preists say the deity is real, real angry at non-sari clad women. However, during the eight-day ashtamangalaya devaprasanam (astrological consultations) ritual that was held at the temple from Oct 31 to Nov 7, priests found that the change in dress code apparently annoyed the temple deity. Thottathil Raveendran, chairman of the Guruvayoor Devasom that oversees the daily functioning of the temple, told IANS that the ritual was held for the first time in 17 years at the temple to find solutions to the various problems the temple has faced this year.