Mumbai: Supreme Court to pronounce its verdict over the petition filed to seek review of its decision to permit entry of women of all age groups in Kerala’s Sabarimala temple, which is dedicated to Lord Ayyappa.
The SC gave its decision on 65 arguments – 56 review petitions, four fresh writ petitions and five transfer petitions, which were filed after the September 28, 2018 verdict of violent protests in Kerala.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi heard the petitions in an open court and reserved judgment on the review petition on 6 February. Other members of the bench were Justices RF Nariman, DY Chandrachud, AM Khanwilkar, and Indu Malhotra.
The parties included the Nair Service Society, Mandir, Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and the state government against the pleas reviewed in favor.
Remarkably, TDB runs the Sabarimala temple. The board, currently headed by former CPI-M MLA A Padmakumar, took a U-turn when it opposed a set of review petitions in association with the Kerala government and supported the SC’s decision. The TDB also clarified that the change in its position was not due to any political pressure.
The SC judgment from September 28 further reads: “It is a universal truth that faith and religion do not countenance discrimination but religious practices are sometimes seen as perpetuating patriarchy thereby negating the basic tenets of faith and of gender equality and rights.”
The dispute was erupted by a petition by the Indian Youth Lawyers Association, which raised the controversy with an informal ban on the entry of women. A five-judge bench headed by Deepak Mishra ruled against the ban. In the judgment, the bench said.”
“Society undergoes a perceptual shift from being a propagator of patriarchal conceptions of women to demand more precise standards of purity and purity, where women are considered cultivators of equality, where the woman is in no way considered frailer, lesser or inferior to man.”
The Kerala Police has made elaborate security arrangements for the temple city as the two-month festival season of the famous Sabarimala Ayyappa temple begins on Sunday.
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