Sabarimala Verdict: SC decision makes Hinduism even more inclusive, says Maneka

The Supreme Court judgment allowing entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple is a “wonderful” decision and would make Hinduism even more inclusive, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said Friday.

“It opens up the way forward for Hinduism to become even more inclusive and not a property of one caste or one sex,” Maneka Gandhi said.

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The constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in its 4:1 verdict, said that banning the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple is against the Constitution and violates the rights of Hindu women.

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Striking down old laws on the Sabarimala temple, the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on piles of pleas challenging the ban on entry of women of menstrual age in Kerala’s Sabarimala temple, saying that “women are not inferior to men”.

Religion cannot be used as cover to deny rights of worship to women and it is also against human dignity, Justice Chandrachud said, adding that prohibition on women is due to non-religious reasons.