Sabarimala Row: SC to hear review petitions on Jan 22

​New Delhi: The Supreme Court is open to revisiting its verdict to allow women of all ages into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple that had triggered large-scale protests and violence when the hilltop shrine opened last month for a few days. Five judges led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Tuesday said they would hold hear the review petitions in open court from January 22.

The court, however, said its earlier judgment will be in force. “We make it clear that there is no stay of the earlier judgment of this court,” the judges said. The top court had on September 28 ended a centuries-old ban on women between 10 years and 50 years to enter Sabarimala. In a 4:1 majority verdict, the judges ruled that exclusion on the basis of biological and physiological features was unconstitutional and discriminatory because it denied women the right to be treated as equals.

The ruling, however, had triggered a barrage of protests outside the temple nestled in the Western Ghats. In nearly 46 days, almost 50 petitions also landed before the Supreme Court. Traditionalists, who believe the presiding deity, Lord Ayyappa, is celibate, had opposed the court verdict and last month stopped dozen-odd women who tried to enter the temple.

At one point, the priests even boycotted rituals to force two women attempting to enter the temple to back down. Petitioners who have challenged the court order say faith cannot be judged by scientific or rational reasons or logic. They say the ban is not on physiological grounds, but it is based on the deity’s celibate character. It is unusual for the Supreme Court to hold open court hearing on review petitions.

The brief ruling was immediately greeted with cheers from the temple’s chief priest and many others. “It is a great decision. Lord Ayyappa helped us,” the chief priest Rajeevaru Kandarau said. Kerala’s temple affairs minister Kadakampally Surendran said the government was committed to going by the court verdict, irrespective of the top
court’s ruling.

Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has intensified its Sabarimala campaign, and the Congress have criticised the Kerala government’s handling of the situation and supported the protesters. The Left government, led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, reiterated that the administration is committed to implementing the court’s September 28 order and blamed political rivals for politicising the issue.

BJP state president PS Sreedharan Pillai, who is on a ‘rath yatra’ supporting temple’s customs, had earlier hoped the court would take note of the mounting protests by devotees and take an appropriate decision.”