NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday referred to a constitution bench the issue relating to the ban on entry of women aged between 10 and 50 years to Kerala’s Sabarimala Temple and framed five questions for the bench to look at.
The questions, drawn up by a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, will decide whether the rights of women, especially their fundamental right to religious freedom and to pray at a place of their choice, can be infringed upon by the temple managed by the Travancore Devaswom Board.
The management of the Sabarimala temple had told the apex court that the ban was because women between 10 and 50 years cannot maintain purity during menstruation. The Travancore Dewaswom Board justified the restriction on the grounds that the deity, Lord Ayyapa, was a celibate.
It said that a 1,000-year-old custom and religious practice could not be interfered with. The Kerala government had told the court that women of all ages should be allowed entry into the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple without any restriction.