The Supreme Court will hear on November 13 the petitions challenging its Sabarimala verdict that allowed women of all age groups entry into the temple.
Hearing the matter on Tuesday, a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul told lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara that it had already passed an order with regard to listing of petitions on November 13.
The Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala, which opened on 17 October for the first time since the Supreme Court’s verdict, closed on Monday night at 10 pm after the Thulamasa puja rituals. It will open again for a day on November 5 and then on November 16 for more than a month.
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As many as 19 review petitions, filed by the National Ayyappa Devotees Association and others seeking a review of its verdict, are pending in the Supreme Court.
Pronouncing its 4:1 verdict last month, a five-judge constitution bench had held that women of all age groups should be allowed entry into Lord Ayyappa’s Sabarimala Temple in Kerala. The doors of the hill-top shrine has however remained shut to menstruating women so far.
The review plea by the Nair Service Society, one of the petitioners, said: “Without holding that the questions raised related to matters of religion which are not within judicially- manageable standards, the majority decision in substance effectively has the effect of holding that the character of the deity can be altered based on individual faith and belief, in violation of the tenets of a particular religion and or religious sect.”
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Pointing to massive protests against the verdict by women worshippers, the petitioners have contended that “the subsequent events that transpired after the judgment clearly demonstrate that overwhelmingly large section of women worshippers are supporting the custom of prohibiting entry of women…”
Though Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has assured that the government would provide protection to women of the age group of 10-50, to enter the temple as per the SC order, no woman in the restricted group succeeded in making it into the temple during the six days that the temple remained open, in view of massive protests by Ayyappa devotees.
Since 17 October, 15 women between 10-50 years have been stopped by angry devotees and protesters who maintained that the customs and traditions of the temple would be protected at any cost.
The temple will again open for Chithira festival at 5 pm on 5 November and close the next day at 10 pm. The temple will open for Mandala puja on 16 November and remain open till 27 December.