New Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court today referredto its constitution bench the matter pertaining to a ban onthe entry of women at Kerala's historic Sabarimala temple.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief justice Dipak Misraframed several questions to be dealt with by the constitutionbench, including whether the temple can restrict women'sentry.
The apex court also framed a question whether restrictingthe entry of women at the temple was violative of their rightsunder the Constitution.
It said the constitution bench will also deal with thequestion whether this practice amounted to discriminationagainst the women.
The court had on February 20 reserved its order onwhether to refer the matter to a constitution bench.
The management of the Sabarimala temple, located on ahilltop in the Western Ghats of Pathanamthitta district, hadearlier told the apex court that the ban on entry of womenaged between 10 and 50 years was because they cannot maintain"purity" on account of menstruation.
The court is hearing a plea challenging the practice ofbanning entry of such women in the temple.
On November 7 last year, the Kerala government hadinformed the apex court that it favoured the entry of women ofall age groups in the historic Sabarimala temple.
Initially, the LDF government had taken a progressivestand in 2007 by favouring women's entry into the temple,which was over-turned by the Congress-led United DemocraticFront (UDF) dispensation later.
The UDF government had taken a view that it was againstthe entry of women of the age group of 10-to-50 years as sucha practice was being followed since time immemorial. PTI ABAMNL PKS RRTARC.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.