SC Directs Kerala Govt To Give Adequate Protection To Two Women Who Entered Sabarimala [Read Order]

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the state of Kerala to ensure that Bindu and Kanaka Durga, the two women who had entered the Sabarimala Temple on Janaury 2, are provided "adequate security, round-the-clock".

The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had awarded an urgent hearing on their petition, after it was mentioned by Senior Advocate Indira Jaising on Thursday, submitting that the women were living under constant fear and that they needed police protection and security from the agitated mob protesting their temple entry.

Senior Counsel Vijay Hansaria, appearing for the state of Kerala, advanced that the petitioners have already been given security, indicating a note from the DCP in that behalf.

"Excellent then! Give them full protection! You are responsible for their life and safety! We will direct that the petitioners be given security...If you are already doing that without the court's intervention, then keep doing it...", observed the Chief Justice.

"Not just these two, but 51 women-devotees have entered the Temple since then...", Hansaria informed the bench.

"We are not concerned whether there were 51 or 500...You have made your point. We do not deem it necessary to entertain anything further", stated the Chief Justice.

Expressing her appreciation for the judicial order for protection, Ms. Jaising sought to hand over the addresses in sealed cover, requesting that the same not be shared.

In view of the other prayers in the present petition for a direction that menstruating women between the ages of 10 and 50 years be permitted to access the Temple without any hindrance and that the 'purification' rite carried out in the Temple post the entry of women be discontinued, she also requested that this petition be tagged with the pleas for the review of the September, 2018 constitution bench verdict of the apex court in the Sabarimala Temple Entry case.

Declining to allow the tagging, the bench recorded, "we deem it appropriate to close the present writ petition by directing that the state shall accord adequate security to the petitioners round-the-clock"

Read The Order