Kerala Woman Prevented From Visiting Sabarimala, Supreme Court To Hear Plea Next Week

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear next week the plea of a Kerala woman who was allegedly prevented from visiting the Sabarimala temple. A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde considered the submission of senior advocate Indira Jaising that her client, Bindu Ammini, was attacked outside the office of the police commissioner for her bid to visit the hilltop shrine at Sabarimala.

“Bindu was attacked with some chemical substance right outside the office of Commissioner of Police,” Jaising said.

A five-judge Constitution bench, by a majority of 4:1 in its verdict delivered in September last year, had allowed girls and women of all age groups to visit the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala, saying that discrimination on physiological grounds was violative of fundamental rights like the Right to Equality.

Last month, Kerala police has refused to provide protection to activist Rehana Fathima for her visit to the shrine.

What is the Sabarimala issue?

The Tranvancore Devaswom Board has, since 1951, restricted the entry of women of menstrual age, i.e. between 10 years and 50 years, from entering the Sabarimala temple. On September 28, 2018 the Supreme Court opened the temple to women of all ages. However, massive protests were witnessed on 17 October 2018 when the temple was opened for the first time after the Supreme Court verdict. Protesters reportedly assaulted women activists, journalists, and other women who were trying to enter the temple.

Meanwhile, a review petition was filed against the September 2018 order. A five-judge bench of the apex court, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, referred the issues to a larger bench, to consider the limits of the powers of the apex court in deciding conflicts between religion and other rights. However, court did not issue any stay on the entry of women.