The Supreme Court will hear petitions challenging its 2018 verdict that lifted the ban on women aged 10 to 50 entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. A nine-judge bench, set up by Chief Justice Surya Kant, will also consider similar cases from other faiths, including whether women can be denied entry into Parsi temples and Muslim mosques, whether religious leaders can excommunicate people, and the legality of female genital mutilation. Legal experts say the court's decision will have far-reaching consequences for women's religious freedoms.
Hinduism traditionally bars menstruating women from participating in religious rituals, regarding them as unclean. Many temples deny women entry during their periods, and several devout women voluntarily stay away. Sabarimala prohibits entry of all women between the ages of 10 and 50. In their 2018 order, the top court judges said keeping women out was discriminatory and unconstitutional, stating that 'the right to practise religion is available to both men and women.' Indu Malhotra, the only woman on the five-judge bench, dissented.
Issues of deep religious sentiments should not be ordinarily interfered [with] by the court... Notions of rationality cannot be invoked in matters of religion.
The 2018 verdict sparked massive protests in Kerala, and women who tried to enter the shrine were either sent back or assaulted. The top court received numerous review petitions and in 2019 set up a seven-judge bench, which later decided to widen the hearings to include similar cases from other faiths. A new nine-judge bench was formed in 2020 but made no progress due to the Covid pandemic. Chief Justice Surya Kant announced the new bench at the weekend, saying its hearing will determine 'questions of law' in the case. The bench includes Justice BV Nagarathna, the lone female judge in the top court who is due to become India's chief justice next year, and judges drawn from different faiths, castes and regions. Reports say this careful selection will help 'lend wider legitimacy to a verdict that will inevitably traverse contested terrain.' Legal experts say the decisions taken will have far-reaching consequences.
Questions of law
Lend wider legitimacy to a verdict that will inevitably traverse contested terrain.