(Image source from: The Hindu)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday has set January 22 as the date to hear Sabarimala review petitions on its September 28 verdict of allowing the women of all ages to enter the shrine.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices R.F. Nariman, CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Indu Malhotra, A.M. Khanwilkar, and D.Y. Chandrachud decided to hear the review petitions in open court. However, there is no stay on the entry of women of all the age groups till January 22.
The five-judge bench was hearing a bunch of petitions seeking review of the verdict given on September 28 permitting entry of women of all age groups into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.
On Tuesday, forty-eight petitions seeking review of the judgment were taken up for consideration. Except for CJI Gogoi, all the other judges were part of the constitutional bench that advocated entry of women in menstrual age to Sabarimala temple.
Relying to a great extent on the judgment of Justice Indu Malhotra, the dissenting voice in the 4:1 split verdict, the review petitions contended that constitutional parameters of rationality cannot be blindly applied to matters of faith.
The apex court's judgment led to violence at the hill-top shrine in Kerala in October.
A plea filed by National Ayyappa Devotees Association (NADA), which has sought review of the verdict, had said: "The notion that the judgment under review is revolutionary, one which removes the stigma or the concept of dirt or pollution associated with menstruation, is unfounded. It is a judgment welcomed by hypocrites who were aspiring for media headlines. On the merits of the case, as well, the said judgment is absolutely untenable and irrational, if not perverse".
Including the Association, several other petitions comprising one by the Nair Service Society (NSS), have been filed against the apex court verdict.
The NSS had said in the plea that as the deity is a 'Naistika Brahmachari', females below the age of 10 and after the age of 50 years are eligible to worship him and there is no practice of excluding worship by females.
-Sowmya Sangam
