SC declines urgent hearing on allowing women into Sabarimala temple

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to urgently hear a plea seeking a review of its verdict allowing women into Kerala's Sabarimala temple. The top court threw the shrine open to women of all ages in a landmark judgment delivered last month; it removed a ban that prevented women between 10 and 50 years of age from entering the temple. The apex court said there will be no out of turn hearing of bunch of review petitions against Sabarimala judgment.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph had considered the submission of Shylaja Vijayan, president, National Ayyappa Devotees Association through Mathews J Nedumpara, which contended that the five-judge Constitution bench verdict lifting the ban was "absolutely untenable and irrational”.

The CJI said that the review may not come before Dasara vacation as the court will reopen on October 22 after the break. One of the petitioners said the verdict can't be a match for the voice of the people. The Nair Service Society, a body of Kerala's influential Nair community, also approached the court, challenging its verdict.

The hill shrine will be opened for the monthly poojas on October 16 for the first time after the SC verdict. Kerala Police are gearing up to post more of its women personnel at the temple in anticipation of the influx of women devotees in the light of the verdict.

A devotee group has warned that hundreds of its members will lie down at the entrance of the temple to stop women of menstruating age from entering when it re-opens.

After the Kerala government made it clear that it won't make an appeal against the apex court order, protests over the entry of women in Sabarimala have gathered pace in the state.

The row has also taken a political turn with both the Congress and BJP launching agitations against the verdict as well as the Vijayan government’s decision to implement it without seeking a review.