Continuing its course of delivering verdicts on crucial issues like Aadhaar, adultery law and the case related to the Ayodhya land dispute, the Supreme Court is likely to pronounce on Friday its judgement on a clutch of petitions seeking entry of women aged between 10 and 50 into Kerala’s Sabarimala Temple.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, also comprising justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, had reserved its order in the case on August 1 after hearing the matter for eight days.
The case pertains to the pleas of Indian Young Lawyers Association and others challenging the ban on entry of women aged 10-50 years into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple.
A 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 restriction on women “of menstruating age”. They moved the apex court after the Kerala HC upheld the centuries-old restriction, and ruled that only the “tantri (priest)” was empowered to decide on traditions.
On the other hand, ‘People for Dharma’ and NGO Chetna have claimed that Lord Ayyapa being a “juristic person” has the right to preserve his “brahmacharya” (celibate) character under the Constitution.
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