SC throws open Sabarimala doors to women of all ages

​New Delhi: The Supreme Court has lifted a ban that prevented women and girls between the age of 10 and 50 from entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.

Reading out a majority 4:1 verdict on Friday, Chief Justice Dipak Misra said women were equally entitled to worship and that the rule which prevented the entry of women went against the right to worship of Hindu women and the right to equality.  While Justices R F Nariman and D Y Chandrachud concurred with the CJI and Justice A M Khanwilkar, Justice Indu Malhotra gave a dissenting verdict.

The authorities at the temple, which attracts tens of millions of pilgrims every year, have said the ban was rooted in a centuries-old tradition and is essential to the rites related to the temple’s chief deity, Ayyappan. In some Hindu communities, menstruating women are regarded as unclean, leading to restrictions and in a few cases outright ban on women of child-bearing age from entering certain places.

Lifting the ban, Chief Justice Justice Dipak Misra said, “restrictions put by Sabarimala temple can’t be held as essential religious practice. No physiological and biological factor can be given legitimacy if it does not pass the test of conditionality,” Justice Misra said.

Justice Indu Malhotra, the lone dissenting judge and the only woman judge in the five-judge bench, said, “religious practices cannot solely be tested on the basis of the right to equality. It is up to the worshippers, not the court, to decide what is the religion’s essential practice”. 

Meanwhile, the judgment has left the temple tantris (priests) and those associated with it by tradition disappointed. The temple’s authorities said they will appeal to the Supreme Court for a review of the ruling ahead of its next period of opening, beginning October 16. The temple remains open only for 127 days in a year and the approach to it entails difficult paths through a forest.

Expressing disappointment, temple tantri (chief priest) K Rajeevaru said: "While I will respect the court's directive, I wish tradition and culture is allowed to continue. The Travancore Devasom Board (TDB) will decide on the appeal challenging the decision, only after a discussion." It is the latest in a series of controversial judgments by the Supreme Court concerning some of the most sensitive issues.