Rehana Fathima, 32, Arrested for Posting her Selfie, Exposing her Thigh' on Facebook

Rehana Fathima, 32-year-old telecom technician, activist and model, has been arrested and charges against her include "exposing her thigh" in a photograph she posted on Facebook while dressed as a pilgrim.

Rehana Fathima was one of the first women to attempt to gain access to the Sabarimala temple in Kerala after a ban on menstruating women at the Hindu pilgrimage site was overruled by India's highest court last month.

Hinduism regards women on period as unclean and bars them from participating in religious rituals. The shrine management says the ban on women is also because the temple deity Lord Ayyappa was a bachelor.

She was accompanied by 100 police officers as she tried to make her way past Hindu devotees who defied the court's ruling and intended to keep women out. She was eventually forced to abandon her attempt to enter the building's sanctum.

In October, Ms Fathima posted a selfie on Facebook which showed her dressed in black (the colour most Lord Ayyappa devotees wear), her forehead smeared with sandalwood paste in the Hindu tradition, and her knees pulled up in front to mimic the classic Ayyappa pose.

Police registered a case against her after complaints that her photograph was "explicit" and "wounded the religious feelings of Lord Ayyappa's devotees".

Ms Fathima was arrested at her office in the city of Cochin on Tuesday, sent to prison for 14 days to allow police to investigate the charges against her.