Sabarimala verdict: Sabarimala now open to women

Sabarimala verdict: Sabarimala now open to women

FPJ BureauUpdated: Wednesday, May 29, 2019, 05:54 AM IST
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The Supreme Court order on Friday that women of all ages must be allowed in Kerala’s renowned Sabarimala temple which draws millions of pilgrims every year is a welcome development in tune with the times. This ends a ban that prevented women and girls between 10 and 50 years from entering the shrine. “Restrictions can’t be treated as essential religious practice,” the apex court said in a majority four-one judgement, calling the custom “almost like untouchability”. This judgement is doubtlessly a shot in the arm for women’s equality with men and is a clear message of parity. The only woman on the five-judge constitution bench, Justice Indu Malhotra, dissented, saying the court should not interfere in religious practices but when there are discriminatory practices, the country’s apex court is well within its right to step in.

For centuries, women of menstruating age have been restricted from entering the Sabarimala temple as its deity, Lord Ayyappa, is considered by devotees to be a celibate. The hilltop temple remains open only for 127 days in a year and can be accessed through a forest. “Lord Ayyappa is not a separate denomination,” said Chief Justice Dipak Misra. “All devotees are equal and there cannot be any discrimination on the basis of gender,” he asserted. Concurring with the Chief Justice, Justice DY Chandrachud said religion cannot be the cover to deny women right to worship. To treat women as children of a lesser God is to blink at constitutional morality,” he added. The Kerala government, which has been changing its stand on the temple ban, had told the Supreme Court in July that it favoured the entry of women. Significantly, the BJP has not taken a stand on the issue. During the hearings, the Travancore Devaswom Board, which runs the over 800-year-old Lord Ayyappa temple, had told the court that the ban is not anti-women and is voluntarily accepted by them.

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