A five-member Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Friday lifted the ban on entry of women at the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala. The Supreme Court quoted Article 25, which guarantees freedom of religion and said it was independent of gender or physiology.
The bench was headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and had reserved its verdict on the case on August 1. The other members of the bench were Justices R.F. Nariman, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y. Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra. According to reports, Justice Malhotra expressed a dissenting opinion in the Sabarimala case.
Commencing the reading of the verdict, Misra noted that patriarchy of religion cannot be permitted to trump over faith and said women were not inferior to men. The court noted that Ayyappa devotees were not a separate sect.
Responding to the verdict, Rahul Easwar, who has been associated with groups who have demanded the continuance of the ban, announced they would oppose the verdict and appeal. Speaking to mediapersons, Easwar said a "review petition would be filed".
The Kerala government, which has been changing its stand on the contentious issue of women of the menstrual age group entering the Sabarimala temple, had on July 18 told the Supreme Court that it now favoured their entry.
The Supreme Court had on October 13 last year referred the issue to a constitution bench after framing five "significant" questions including whether the practice of banning entry of women into the temple amounted to discrimination and violated their fundamental rights under the Constitution.
