Sabarimala temple open for women, SC says banning them is gender discrimination

The Supreme Court on Friday, September 28 allowed entry of women of all ages into the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala.

The five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in its 4:1 verdict, said banning entry of women to Kerala's Sabrimala temple is gender discrimination and the practice violates rights of Hindu women.

It said religion is a way of life basically to link life with divinity.

While Justices RF Nariman and DY Chandrachud concurred with the CJI and Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice Indu Malhotra gave a dissenting verdict.

The court pronounced its verdict on a clutch of pleas challenging the ban on entry of women of menstrual age in Kerala's Sabrimala temple and said law and society are tasked with the task to act as levellers.

The bench passed four sets of separate judgements.

The CJI said devotion cannot be subjected to discrimination and patriarchal notion cannot be allowed to trump equality in devotion. He said the devotees of Lord Ayyappa do not constitute a separate denomination.

Group of five women lawyers has challenged Rule 3(b) of the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Rules, 1965, which authorises ban on women “of menstruating age”. They moved the Supreme Court after the Kerala HC upheld the centuries-old restriction, and ruled that only the priest was empowered to decide on traditions.

Senior Advocate Indira Jaising, who represented the petitioners, said the restrictions went against Articles 14, 15 and 17 of the Constitution.

Temple management has contended in court that they are allowed to frame rules for the shrine without the state governmnet’s interference as the Ayyaoppa devotees form a denomination—a body with a definite identifiable character. They also said that it wasn’t discriminatory as the tradition was born from the belief that the deity is a eternal celibate.

With inputs from NH Web Desk.