NEW DELHI: After a marathon hearing of 16 days in the Sabarimala reference case, a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, has reserved its verdict following a 16-day hearing on the Sabarimala review petitions.
A bench comprised of Justices B V Nagarathna, M M Sundresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, Augustine George Masih, Prasanna B Varale, R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi said, "We are reserving the judgment in the case."
Earlier, a five-judge Constitution bench had lifted the ban preventing women between the ages of 10 and 50 from entering the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in a 4:1 majority verdict in September 2018, ruling that the centuries-old Hindu religious practice was illegal, unconstitutional, discriminatory, and violating fundamental rights.
The top Court struck down Rule 3(b) of the 1965 Kerala rules, stating that the exclusion based on physiological factors (menstruation) could not constitute an essential religious practice. The only judge who dissented was Justice (now retd) Indu Malhotra.