New Delhi/Thiruvan-anthapuram/Sabarimala: The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that no temple can bar the entry of women devotees — except on the basis of religion.
Judges Dipak Misra, Pinaki Chandra Ghose and N.V. Ramana said this while hearing a petition by the Indian Young Lawyers Association challenging the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple’s custom of prohibiting the entry of women between the age of 10 and 50 years.
The court observed that a “temple can’t prohibit entry except on the basis of religion. Unless you have a constitutional right, you can’t prohibit the entry”.
The next hearing has been scheduled for February 8.
The ruling immediately divided the faithful into two camps — those who want to retain the present system and those who want that women of all age groups should be allowed entry into the Sabarimala temple.
“Even though god does not differentiate between man and woman, as far as Sabarimala temple and its traditions are concerned, it has a well thought out process and a system,” Kalidasan Namboodiripad, a tantric priest in Kerala, told IANS.
“The fulcrum of the Sabarimala pilgrimage revolves around a 41-day penance. Keeping that in mind, the question of women being able to do that cannot happen because it is not possible and practical,” he added.
Situated on the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats at 914 metres above sea level, the Sabarimala temple is four kilometres uphill from Pamba river in Pathanamthitta district, around 100 km from Thiruvananthapuram. (IANS)
