New Delhi:
The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined an urgent hearing on pleas seeking review of its verdict allowing women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala. The apex court said there will be no out of turn hearing of a bunch of review petitions against Sabarimala judgment.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that “review petitions will come up for hearing in the due course” and added that the matter might not come up for a hearing anytime soon as the court will reopen on October 22 after the Dussehra break.
The National Ayyappa Devotee association and the Nair Service Society, a body of Kerala’s influential Nair community, approached the top court, challenging its verdict.
Meanwhile, Devotees of Lord Ayyappa organised an "Ayyappa Nama Japa Yatra" to the Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram to protest against the Supreme Court's verdict.
Trivandrum: Lord Ayyappa devotees organise 'Ayyappa Nama Japa Yatra' to Raj Bhavan in protest against Supreme Court verdict over women's entry in Kerala's #SabarimalaTemple. pic.twitter.com/zsZ9gIMSC4
— ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2018
The Supreme Court on September 28 struck down the centuries-old rule that barred women between 10 and 50 years of age to enter the shrine of Lord Ayyappa.
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A five-judge constitution bench headed by former Chief Justice Dipak Misra has observed that “on one hand, women are worshipped as Goddesses, but there are restrictions on the other hand. Relationship with God can’t be defined by biological or physiological factors”.
Though four judges, including Justice Misra, had the same opinion in the Sabarimala temple case, Justice Indu Malhotra had given one dissenting opinion into the same. The other justices on the bench included RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud.
