Thiruvananthapuram: K. N. Satheesh, chief executive officer (CEO) of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, told DC that once he got the copy of the High Court judgment, given on Thursday asserting that women wearing a churidhar/salwar-kameez should not be permitted entry into the temple, he would implement the order. However, Lakshmi Bai Nalapatt who had fought for the churidhar/salwar kazmeex to be allowed, wondered what would be the reaction of every Malayali woman being denied entry in North Indian temples for wearing ‘settum mundu’.
On Thursday, the division bench directed that the present rituals and customs of the temple be continued. The court said the executive office had no authority to make changes in the rituals of the temple. The court accepted the plaintiff’s argument that the decision of the temple tantri was final. Women coming to the temple wearing churidhar/ salwar kameez should drape a mundu over it.
On November 30, The CEO had permitted women to enter the temple wearing churidhar/ salwar-kameez. After several people objected to it, private pleas were lodged in the High Court against this order. A single bench first considered it but later left it to the division bench. Satheesh told DC that he was liable to execute the judgment as CEO but would file an appeal. “I will abide by the High Court judgment. I am yet to get the order, but once I receive it, I will ensure that churidhar is banned at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple. The interim order in response to a section which had come to the forefront protesting against the churidhar will be implemented”, said Satheesh.
Meanwhile, a peeved Laskshmi Bai Nalappat claimed that the main deity at Sreepadmanabhaswamy temple had been “deformed”, adding "so much for tradition". “I do not wish to get into temple politics. But just imagine when a Malayali woman wearing settum mundu is denied entry at a temple in North India, what would be their reaction”, said Lakshmi Nalappat who belongs to the erstwhile Travancore royal family.
