The Supreme Court on Friday paved the way for 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 that banning the entry of women into the shrine is gender discrimination and the practice violates rights of Hindu women.
Calling the practice to ban entry to women between the ages of ten and fifty at the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala as “a form of untouchability”, Justice DY Chandrachud said, “Religion cannot be cover to deny women the right to worship.” He went on to say, “To treat women as children of a lesser god is to blink at constitutional morality.”
“Religion is a way of life basically to link life with divinity,” and banning entry of women “violates their rights,” the bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said.
Justice Chandrachud also said that “exclusion of women is a violation of right to liberty, dignity and equality.””Exclusion of women because she menstruates is utterly unconstitutional,” he said, before highlighting that “popular notion about morality can be offensive to dignity of others.”
Towards the end of his judgement, Justice Chandrachud said, “Prohibition on women is due to non-religious reasons, and is a grim shadow of discrimination going on for centuries.”
Justices RF Nariman and DY Chandrachud went ahead and concurred with Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice AM Khanwilkar. Justice Indu Malhotra however, gave a dissenting verdict.
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