THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will on Thursday deliver its judgment on 56 review petitions over the court order passed last year allowing the entry of women aged between ten and 50 at the Sabarimala temple.
The crucial petitions were filed by Sabarimala chief tantri Kantararu Rajeevararu, Committee for the Protection of Rituals and Customs, NSS leadership, All-Kera-la Brahmin’s Associati-on, Travancore Devasw-om Board and the state government against and in favour of the order.
Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who is scheduled to step down in two days, and the other senior judges will decide whether or not the review petitions have to be transferred to a wider bench.
Senior lawyer V. Giri will appear for Kantararu Rajeevararu who had shut down the temple for purification after two women activists, Bindu Ammini and Kanakad-urga, entered the sanctum sanctorum on January 2. The court may pass strictures on the tantri over his action.
Legal luminary K. Parasaran who represents the NSS had argued that it was important for the deity to maintain a distance from women. He had also questioned whe-ther the ban on young women was gender bias or gender sensitive.
Parasaran had recently represented Ram Lalla Virajman, the infant deity in the Rama Janmabhoomi case. The Travancore Devaswom Board has taken a pro-faith stand after accepting the court order. M. R. Abhilash will appear for the Committee for the Protection of Rituals and Customs.
Other petitioners inclu-de former TDB president Prayar Gopalakrishnan, Janapaksham leader P. C. George, Malabar Temple Trustee Committee, BJP leader B. Radhakrishna Menon, V. Usha Nandini and Vaikom Gopakumar.
