CJI Ranjan Gogoi And Justices SK Kaul And KM Joseph To Hear Fresh Petitions On Sabarimala On Nov 13

The Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S. K. Kaul and K. M. Joseph will consider three fresh petitions regarding the entry of menstruating women between the ages of 10 and 50 years to the Sabarimala, Temple on November 13

Earlier on October 23, the Chief Justice had announced that the Apex court will hear the 19 review petitions filed against the Sabarimala verdict on November 13. The petitions will be heard in open court, he had stated.

While the review petitions are yet to be listed, the three new writ petitions are to be taken up at item 18 on November 13.

The review petitions, by inter alia the Nair Service Society and the National Ayyappa Devotee(Women) Association, rely heavily on the dissenting judgment of Justice Indu Malhotra to contend that constitutional parameters of rationality cannot be blindly applied to matters of faith.

The review petitions also state that the Court erred in entertaining the PIL without examining the locus standi of the petitioner. It is contended that no woman devotee of Lord Ayyappa would want to visit Sabarimala temple, and hence the Court erred in adjudicating the issue on a petition filed by a party who is totally alien to the temple customs.

Further, it is pointed out that Court wrongly concluded that the basis of prohibition was physiological nature of women. According to the review petitioners,the practise was rooted in the “naishtika brahmachari” character of deity, as per which the deity cannot be in the presence of women. The practise is therefore not derogatory to the dignity of women, it is argued.

A five-judge constitution bench by a ratio of 4:1 had held that women of all age groups should be allowed entry in Kerala’s Sabarimala Temple.