SC reserves order on referring Sabrimala temple issue to Constitution Bench

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 20 

The Supreme Court on Monday made it clear that it will refer the issue of entry of women of menstruating age to the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala to a Constitution Bench.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said it involved important questions of law, religion and custom that should be considered and decided by a Constitution Bench.

The court asked the parties to submit within a week the issues they thought needed addressing. It also permitted two amicus curiae in the case to submit issues.

The three-judge Bench reserved its verdict on issue of referring the case to a Constitution Bench.

Earlier, on behalf of the Sabarimala Temple, senior counsel KK Venugopal told the court that there were several conflicting verdicts on Article 25 (right to religion) and Article 26 (a religious denomination's right), which needed to be reconciled and given a harmonious construction.

Venugopal said a plain reading of Article 25 and Article 26 made it clear that religious denominations had a superior right under the Constitution as unlike citizens' right to religion a religious denomination's right was not subject to other fundamental rights.

Venogopal told the court that it was a question of religious diversity and mentioned the name of Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Kerala where men are not allowed. He sought to emphasize that there was no blanket ban on women.

Venugopal's submission was opposed by senior counsel Indira Jaising who said any right of a religious denomination has to be subject to right to equality and Article right to non-discrimination under Article 14 and Article 15 respectively.

The top court is seized of a public interest petition against the age-old tradition of keeping women of menstruating age (10-50 years) out of the famous the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple — one of the holiest Hindu shrines — situated on a hilltop Kerala temple. 

The tradition is rooted in the belief that the deity is a celibate (Naisthik Brahmachari).

The Kerala Government and the Travancore Devaswam Board that manages the temple had supported the ban. But the Kerala Government later changed its stand and supported the petitioner.

The petitioner contended that the ban violated women's right to practice religion that included right of entry and worship.

The SC allowed intervention applications filed by over a dozen individuals and organizations, including Rajya Sabha MP Rajiv Chandrashekar, who wanted to be heard in the matter.

They submitted that the court’s ruling in the Sabarimala case will have a bearing on all religious denominations across India, and therefore, it was important for the court to hear it in detail.