A bizarre temple ritual in Madurai, exposed by a journalist for a Coimbatore-based news portal, has caused an upheaval. AR Meyyammai, who wrote the story for The Covai Post on 24 September, received threats on social media, soon after the report went live. The portal's editor, Vidyashree Dharmaraj, has also allegedly been getting intimidating phone calls, forcing her to lodge a complaint with the IT cell, HuffPost India has learnt.

Meyyammai's report, in her own words, "opened a Pandora's Box" by highlighting a problematic practice at a temple in Vellalur in the Madurai district.

The residents of 62 villages in the region have, for centuries it appears, offered young girls from different clans to the service of the deity, Yezhaikaatha Amman, every year. The priest of the temple dedicated to the goddess have a free hand over choosing 7 girls from 7 clans to spend 15 days at the site with him. But there are two conditions: the girls have to be below the age of puberty and they must remain topless for the duration of their residence, with only heavy jewellery covering their chests.