TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ The Supreme Court on Friday paved the way for entry of women of all ages into the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala. The five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in its 4:1 verdict, said that banning the entry of women into the shrine is gender discrimination and the practice violates rights of Hindu women. The CJI said religion is a way of life basically to link life with divinity. While Justices R F Nariman and D Y Chandrachud concurred with the CJI and Justice A M Khanwilkar, Justice Indu Malhotra gave a dissenting verdict.
Justice Malhotra, the lone woman judge in the bench, passed a dissenting judgment and said that issues which have deep religious connotation should not be tinkered with to maintain secular atmosphere in the country. She was of the view that it is not for courts to determine which religious practices are to be struck down except in issues of social evil like ‘Sati’.
Justice Malhotra said right to equality conflicts with right to worship of devotees of Lord Ayyappa. She said the issue in this case not limited to Sabarimala only. It will have far reaching implications for other places of worships. The court passed four sets of separate judgments on a clutch of pleas challenging ban on the entry of women of menstrual age in Kerala’s Sabarimala temple saying law and society are tasked with the task to act as levellers.
