SC reserves its verdict on Sabarimala review pleas

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 6

The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on petitions seeking review of its September 2018 judgment allowing entry of women, irrespective of their age, into the Lord Ayyappa’s hilltop temple at Sabarimala in Kerala.

Senior advocate K Parasaran, representing Nair Service Society, submitted before a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi that the exclusionary practice in Sabarimala temple was based on the character of the deity who was an eternal celibate.

Parasaran was supported by senior counsel V Giri, who represented the temple’s priest. “Untouchability has nothing to do here. Entry is sought to be prohibited only due to nature of the deity. It is not an exclusionary practice,” Giri told the Bench, which also included Justices Rohinton Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.

The Bench can either reverse its verdict or dismiss the review petitions or refer the issue to a larger Bench.

On behalf of Prayar Gopalakrishnan, former chairman of the Travancore Devaswom Board, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi submitted that in Hinduism God was not worshipped in abstract. Defending the verdict, the Kerala Government contended that exclusion of women was not essential to Hinduism.

Travancore Devaswom board does a U-turn, now backs entry of all women

• Travancore Devaswom Board, which earlier supported the tradition, changed its stand and supported the verdict on Wednesday

• "Text and scriptures do not speak of exclusion of women," Board's advocate Rakesh Dwivedi said

• "The Board has decided to respect the SC verdict. Equality is the dominant theme under the Constitution and the practice violates equality 

• “Spirit of the judgment is equal treatment to a man and woman. Women can't be excluded on the basis of biological attributes," Dwivedi said