Supreme Court refers case of ban on women’s entry into Sabarimala temple to Constitution Bench

The Supreme Court on Friday referred to a five-judge Constitution Bench a bunch of petitions challenging the age-old practice in Kerala's famed Sabarimala temple of not allowing women aged between 10 and 50 to enter the temple.

A Constitution Bench will decide whether the rights of women, especially their fundamental right to religious freedom and to pray at the place of their choice, can be discriminated against by a temple managed by a statutory board — here the Travancore Devaswom Board — created by a State legislature.

Laws should not violate the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

The temple authorities have justified the age-old practice, saying it is founded in tradition.

Framing the questions for reference to the Constitution Bench, a Bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices R. Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan said primarily the Constitution Bench would decide whether the practice of ban on women was gender discriminatory, violating their right to equality, religious freedom.

On the other hand, the Constitution Bench will also decide whether the ban' is protected by Article 25 (the right to religious freedom) of Ayyappa devotees.

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The Constiution Bench will answer the question whether a 1991 judgment of the Kerala High Court upholding the ban would amount to res judicata.

It will decide whether the ban qualifies as an "essential religious practice" of the Hindu faith, over which the apex court has no jurisdiction. It will also decide whether Ayyappa devotees form a separate religious denomination by themselves.

Most importantly, it will decide if a temple managed by a statutory board can "indulge" in the practice of banning women from entry on moral grounds.

The Constitution Bench will decide whether the ban enforced under Rule 3 (b) of the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Rules, 1965 (women at such time during which they are not by custom and usage allowed to enter a place of public worship) is violative of the fundamental rights of women to practice religion freely.

The restriction on women aged between 10 and 50 taking the pilgrimage means women are banned from even making the arduous trek to the shrine.