On Friday, the Supreme Court referred to a five judge Constitution Bench on the petitions that are challenging the age old practice of not allowing women between the age of 10 and 50 inside Kerala’s Sabarimala temple.
The bench is set up to decide if the rights of women can be discriminated against by the temple that is managed by the Travancore Devaswom Board.
The temple authorities argue that the practice was founded by tradition and must not be broken.
The bench will decide if the practice is a violation of women’s equality rights and religious freedom. It will also consider if the ban is protected by Article 25 that states the right to religious freedom of the Ayyappa devotees.
It will also make a judgment on whether the ban is listed as an “essential religious practice” of the Hindu religion. The bench will also decide is a temple that is managed by a statutory board has the right to indulge in a practice that bans the women on moral grounds.
The restriction at the Sabarimala temple states that women between the age of 10 and 50 are not allowed to that the pilgrimage meaning they are not allowed to make the trek to the shrine.
