Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi: Having burnt its fingers last year, the CPM led Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala has indicated that it will not side with any woman trying to go the shrine during the current pilgrim season starting November 16.
Though Chief Minister Vijayan parried questions on women entry, his law minister AK Balan was categoric in saying that women who want to go to the shrine will not get police protection.
Reacting to the 3:2 majority judgment that has referred the review petitions to a 7-judge bench, Vijayan said, "There needs to be more clarity on this judgment." On women entry, he said “there is still time.”
The reactions come in the wake of the Supreme Court on Thursday referring to a seven-member Constitution bench a clutch of review petitions of its majority decision last year that girls and women between 10 and 50 be allowed to enter the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.
In what is seen as things to come, the Supreme Court also clubbed the issue of women entry into mosques and the said the practice of female genital mutilation in the Dawoodi Bohra community along with the Sabarimala case.
Queering the pitch of the larger bench, the current ruling has, in other words, subtly indicated that if women are allowed to enter Sabarimala, they should also be allowed to enter mosques.
The majority decision -- by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices A M Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra -- decided to keep pending the pleas seeking a review of its decision regarding the entry of women into the shrine. It read: “Restriction on women in religious places is not restricted to Sabarimala alone, it is prevalent in other religions also.”
The top court should evolve a common policy on religious places like Sabarimala, the CJI said, while referring to restrictions on entry of women to mosques.
Stating that the endeavour of review petitioners was to “revive a debate on religion and faith”, Justice Gogoi said, “A larger bench will decide religious issues relating to Sabarimala, the entry of women into mosques and the practice of female genital mutilation.”
