The Supreme Court will decide on Tuesday the date when it will hear the review petitions pending before it against the entry of women of all ages into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple. Currently, there are a total of 19 review petitions pending before the Supreme Court in connection with the Supreme Court’s verdict last month allowing women of all ages into Sabarimala Temple.
“We will see it tomorrow (Tuesday) as to when we can take up the hearing of the fresh petitions (writ and review) regarding the entry of women between the ages of 10 and 50 in Kerala’s Sabarimala temple,” the Supreme Court said on Monday.
Over the last five days, over 10 women have attempted to enter the shrine but were forced to turn back owing to massive protests by devotees. In many cases, the devotees, constantly shouting slogans of the deity Ayyappa, were surrounded by protesters and sent back and in some cases, the police had said that they will not be able to provide protection for the women. The Pandalam Royal Family and the Thantri family have threatened to close the doors of the temple if a woman between the ages of 10 to 50 enters the temple.
The custodian of the Sabarimala temple, Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), had decided to submit a detailed report about the happenings in and around the temple, both to the Supreme Court and the Kerala High Court.
A Padmakumar, TDB president, stated that the board would soon approach their legal counsel for preparing the report on what has been happening in the temple since it opened on Wednesday.
"We have no intention to play political games with Sabarimala," said Padmakumar.
Meanwhile, State BJP President PS Sreedharan Pillai on Sunday stated that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should convene a special session of the Assembly, and recommend to the Centre to promulgate an Ordinance to nullify the SC order.
A five-judge Supreme Court on September 28 lifted the ban on the entry of women between the ages 10 to 50 into the Sabarimala temple. Ruling 4:1 in favour of women’s entry, the bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Indu Malhotra, observed that Article 25, the right to practice religion, is applicable to both men and women.
Following the Supreme Court's verdict, several protests and rallies were carried out across Kerala by both men and women, who claimed that the SC ruling is against their customs and traditions.
(With IANS inputs)