New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday indicated that the issue of allowing entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 to Sabarimala temple in Kerala will have to be heard by a five-judge Constitution bench.
A three-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra, R. Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan reserved verdict on petition seeking a direction to lift the ban on entry of women in Sabarimala temple.
Judge: Supreme Court to balance rights
At the outset Justice Misra said the court will have to balance the rights, viz the right of denomination or cult to deny entry to women of particular age and the rights of those women who are excluded claiming right of entry into the temple. Whether the State can change its stand when there is change of government is also an issue to be considered, the bench added.
Earlier K.K. Venugopal appearing for the Travancore Dewaswom Board justified the regulation on entry of women on the ground that the deity Lord Ayyapa is a ‘Naisthik Brahmachari’ (celebrate) and said the 1,000-year-old custom and religious practice cannot be interfered with. He said for several centuries, traditionally it has been a practice in the temple to restrict the entry of women who are in the age group of 10-50 years as the deity Lord Ayyappa did not want the penance to be disturbed.
