THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Devasom Minister in Kerala on Thursday said there was no ban on women praying in the Sabarimala temple and that women, especially from the erstwhile royal families, used to pray there.
Kadakampally Surendran's statement came at a time when the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench is looking if the ban on entry into the temple of females in the age group of 10-50 years was discriminatory and violated the Constitution.
The Devasom Ministry controls the various Devasom Boards that run a number of temples in the state including Sabarimala and the Sree Krishna temple at Guruvayoor.
T.K.A. Nair, a former advisor to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said he had been told that way back in 1940 he was seated in his mother's lap and took part in a ritual at the Sabarimala temple.
Nair was last week appointed Chairman of the advisory committee for improving the facilities for pilgrims visiting the Sabarimala temple.
Countering them, Rahul Eshwar, a member of the Sabarimala temple 'tantric' family, said these arguments were meant to weaken the present case in the Supreme Court.
"These are all lies as I have with me records from the British era dating back to 1812 which shows that in a survey report conducted then it states that the Sabarimala temple had banned entry of women falling within a particular age group," said Eshwar.
In October last year, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice R. Banumathi and Justice Ashok Bhushan framed five questions to be addressed by the Constitution Bench on the issue.