A writ petition was filed on Friday in the Kerala High Court alleging that hasty steps were being taken by the State government and the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to allow women who did not observe the mandatory 41-day penance into the Sabarimala temple in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict.
The petition was filed by M.K. Gopinath, State president of the Antharashtra Hindu Parishad(International Hindu Organisation).
It was not disputed that observance of the 41-day penance (vritham) by a pilgrim was a prerequisite for entering the Sabarimala temple. There was every chance of women trying to enter the temple without observing the penance in the present situation, the petitioner claimed.
In fact, the judgment of the Supreme Court came on September 29. The next date for opening the temple for monthly ‘darshan’ was October 18. There were only 20 days left to observe penance.
So, it would not be possible for women, who wanted to offer prayers at Sabarimala after the date of the judgment, to observe 41 days of penance. Besides, the stakeholders had decided to file a review petition before the Supreme Court.
The petitioner, therefore, sought to defer the entry of women into the temple till the next opening day after October 18.
The petitioner also contended that the State government and the TDB were taking hasty steps to allow entry of women though they knew that women had not got enough time for observing the mandatory penance.