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on womens entry
at Sabarimala
The bench also took note of Kerala government's recent stand and termed it
as "somersault" saying, "You have filed an affidavit by taking an opposite
stand. We will test it also as to whether a can take a somersault or u-turn".
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By: Express News Service | New Delhi | Updated: February 13, 2016 4:54 am
The Supreme Court Friday questioned the practice of banning women from Keralas Sabarimala
temple, and wondered if man-made customs can prescribe such prohibition when the God does
not discriminate between men and women.
A bench led by Justice Dipak Misra said it would examine the issue of ban on entry of women of
menstrual age in the temple on constitutional parameters, and adjudge whether this practice
was intricately fundamental to religious customs and hence cannot be interfered with.
The God does not discriminate between men and women, so why should there be gender
discrimination in the premises of the temple, observed the bench as it quoted from a
mythological story about Sati Anusuya, who had turned Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh into
children.
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How can you stop the mother from entering the temple? it asked, adding that neither the Vedas
nor Upanishads discriminated on the basis of gender.
Senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for the Travancore Devaswom Board, sought six
weeks for filing evidence, including documents and ancient scriptures, on the issue, and said the
practice of prohibiting women of menstrual age in Sabarimala was being followed for centuries.
The bench also termed Kerala governments recent stand a somersault. The state government,
in its latest affidavit, has said the prohibition of women is a matter of religion and it is dutybound to protect the right to practice the religion of these devotees. But in its previous
affidavit, it had supported a PIL seeking womens entry in Sabarimala.
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could bar a woman from entering the famous Sabarimala shrine in Kerala where lakhs of devotees
throng annually.
Why can you not let a woman enter? On what basis are you prohibiting women entry? ... What is
your logic? Women may or may not want to go [to worship at Sabarimala], but that is her personal
choice, Justice Misra had remarked on January 11.
Keywords: Ban on entry to women in Sabarimala
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Appearing for the state, advocate Liz Mathews said there were
certain inaccuracies in the earlier affidavit filed by the government
and it would like to correct it. Petitioners said the state government
was changing its stand. The bench said if the government changed
its stand, "it would be at their own peril" and posted the matter for
further hearing on February 8.
Blog: Why Hindu community should completely open
Sabarimala to women
The LDF government in 2008 had filed an affidavit supporting the
PIL filed by women lawyers and said banning entry of women
between 10 and 50 years was discriminatory and should be
discontinued.
Venugopal said the deity was believed to be celibate and in the
posture of meditation. It was a religious custom not to allow women
in menstruating age to enter the temple as that could disturb the
deity, he added.
The SC had last month ruled in the case Adi Saiva Sivachariyagal
Nala Sangam, "Requirement of constitutional conformity is inbuilt
and if a custom or usage is outside the protective umbrella afforded
and envisaged by Articles 25 and 26 (right to practice and profess
any religion), the law will certainly take its own course.
Constitutional legitimacy, naturally, must supersede all religious
beliefs or practices."
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why crossing the line for Hindu religion. why not doing same for others? lets SC fix and
make it a constitutional law of... Read Moredmp999
The women lawyers had quoted news reports on the practice and
challenged the validity of provisions of the Kerala Hindu Places of
Public Worship (Authorization of Entry) Rules, 1965 giving legality to
the ban.
Sabarimala temple: SC to
hear PIL against ban on
womens entry
4.
Earlier this week, the SC bench had questioned the ban on entry of women of
menstrual age group in Sabarimala temple, saying it was a public temple and
everyone needed to have the right to access.
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By: Express News Service | New Delhi | Updated: January 16, 2016 4:45 am
The Supreme Court on Friday said it would go ahead with deciding the constitutionality of the
age-old ban on entry of women of menstrual age in Keralas Sabarimala temple and may also
appoint a senior lawyer as amicus curiae to assist it.
We are going to hear this case. Once a PIL is admitted, the matter is only for the court to decide
in public interest, said a bench led by Justice Dipak Misra, as it asked a lawyer, associated with
the petition, to not press for withdrawing the PIL.
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Naushad Ahmed Khan, president of Indian Young Lawyers Association whose women members
had filed the PIL, mentioned the matter before the bench, expressing his desire to withdraw the
plea in the wake of several intimidating calls and death threats allegedly received by him.
But the bench told him the PIL of such a nature cannot be withdrawn at this stage. Adding that it
may appoint an amicus, the court said it would take up on Monday issues relating to security of
Khan, who is also an additional standing counsel for the Delhi government.
Earlier this week, the SC bench had questioned the ban on entry of women of menstrual age
group in Sabarimala temple, saying it was a public temple and everyone needed to have the
right to access.
In a shift from its stand, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) now favours entry of women
into temples but wants the unfair restriction to go after due consultation with the stakeholders.
Because of some unfair traditions, at certain places, there has been a lack of consensus on the question
of temple entry. Wherever such a problem exists, attempts should be made to bring about a change of
mind through proper discussion, said RSS Sarkaryawah Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshis report submitted at the
ongoing three-day Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha in Nagaur district of Rajasthan.
The RSS also adopted two resolutions on effective healthcare and easy access to affordable medical
services on the second day of the Nagaur conclave. It is also expected to take a call on change of RSS
uniform, replacing khaki knickers with trousers.
Women are up in arms in Maharashtra and Kerala protesting the ban on their entry at Shani Shingnapur
temple and Sabarimala temple, respectively. Congress-led UDF government in Kerala had supported the
ban in writing before the Supreme Court which is hearing a petition challenging menstruating womens
entry into Sabarimala temple.
The RSS appears to have drifted away from its previous stand since its mouthpiece Organiser reportedly
argued in favour of the age-old tradition of restricting womens entry into Shani Shingnapur temple. But,
Sangh Parivar had reportedly favoured resolving the dispute through respectful dialogue in an editorial in
one of its issues published more than a month back.
The Hindutva ideologues latest position is expected to remove ambiguity in handling the sensitive
religious gender issue, also reflected in the BJP, where different leaders have been taking contradictory
stands.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had supported women activists demand for entry but with
the caveat that his government would act as a facilitator to resolve the complex problem. At the same
time, rural development minister Pankaja Munde had supported the ban on womens entry into Shani
temple.
Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshis annual report broached the topic under the sub-heading, Women and Temple
Entry, while offering its narrative on National Scenario.
In the last few days, some elements inimical to the well being of society have raised unsavoury
controversy over womens entry into temple. From the hoary past, we have been following a lofty tradition
in which in the religious and spiritual spheres, in matters of worship and piety, both men and women are
naturally considered to be equal partners, the RSS commented.
To push its argument, the Sangh stated that over the years women also have been learning Vedas and
officiating as priests in temples in the natural course.
The RSS also adopted two resolutions on effective healthcare and easy access to affordable medical
services on the second day of the Nagaur conclave. It is also expected to take a call on change of RSS
uniform, replacing khaki knickers with trousers.
By Elsa Oommen:
the restriction on women in the age group of 10-50 is in accordance with the
customs of the temple and does not violate of Art 15, 25 and 26 of the
constitution.
One can see how the total ban on the women of reproductive age from
entering the Sabarimala temple stemmed from some devotees fear that
women of menstrual age may defile the temple by their presence (MG
Radhakrishnan, 1995). Kerala Devaswom Minister G Sudhakaran had also
remarked in 2007 that there is evidence to prove that women had visited the
temple and there is need to restore a right once enjoyed by women. Nivedita
Menon (2004:3) talks about the the impossibility of appealing to women as
a category unmediated by other identities like religion and caste. It is in
such circumstances that one has to see the vision of the framers of the
Indian constitution when they did not go for complete separation of the state
and the religion. The words of B. R Ambedkar (Chairman of the drafting
committee of the Indian constitution) comes as a particular reminder in the
understanding of the role of the constitution and legal machinery to be able
to provide social justice. He had remarked that the religious conceptions in
this country are so vast that they cover every aspect of life, from birth to
death. There is nothing which is not religion and if personal law is to be
saved, I am sure about it that in social matters we will come to a
standstill. Here one can see where Ambedkar hints on the conscience
collective drawing from religion that they cover almost all aspects of life and
death. Durkheim, the classical sociologist examined the situation of
mechanical solidarity where the totality of beliefs and sentiments common
to average citizens of the same society forms a determinate system which
has its own life; one may call it the collective or common
conscience (Durkheim, 1893). While conscience collective holds the society
together, it also necessitates changes to the nature of solidarity when the
society becomes more diffuse and the constituent elements become more
distinct and developed.
The intervention of the state law into the customary practices of the various
communities is seen to have produced far-flung changes in the nature of
these laws which existed prior to them. It is to be noted that this is not just a
linear process whereby the non-state acquires the elements of the state law,
but also a case where the state law or the dominant law also seems to
assimilate the elements of the customary law. The courts in India have led
social reform agendas in a country that is still largely enveloped by some
form of conscience collective which can be oppressive to marginalised
groups in the society such as scheduled castes, minorities and women. India
has also witnessed murders of social reformers and activists such
as Narendra Dabholkar who had also fought gender bias in temples and
places of worship. Thus, the emancipatory role of the apex court is of utmost
importance in fighting such deep rooted biases which exist in the society.
To conclude, the Supreme Court has rightly cited constitutional guarantees of
equality to question the restriction imposed on women in the reproductive
age group. Why can you not let a woman enter? On what basis are you
prohibiting women entry? What is your logic? Women may or may not want
to go [to worship at Sabarimala], but that is their personal choice, remarked
Justice Dipak Misra, heading a three-member apex court bench on the
case, you cannot prevent them from worshipping at the
shrine. Radhakrishnan (1995) examines how the then president of the
Travancore Devaswom Board, N. Bhaskaran Nair, had hinted at possible
changes when similar demands for womens entry came up in the early 90s
by saying, I respect all the temple conventions but, personally, I think a
change is inevitable. Once the lower caste people were denied entry into the
temples. The ban on women may also change. One can see that the total
ban on women in Sabarimala temple is neither historical nor entirely based
on religion, but merely based on the decisions of an all-male establishment
which is free to stipulate rules which discriminate against women on the
basis of biological and physical conditions intrinsic to their gender.
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A Division Bench of the Kerala HC had upheld the restriction on women of a particular
age group offering worship at the shrine.
In a submission that may indicate the Kerala governments position on access to women aged
between 10 and 50 to the Sabarimala shrine, the State asked the Supreme Court on Monday to call
for the records of a 1991 judgment of the Kerala High Court, which held that the restriction was in
accordance with a usage from time immemorial and not discriminatory under the Constitution.
A Division Bench of the Kerala HC had, on April 5, 1991, examined the Sabarimala Thanthri (chief
priest) and upheld the restriction on women of a particular age group offering worship at the shrine.
The HC Bench of Justices K. Paripoornan and K.B. Marar held that the prohibition imposed by the
Travancore Devaswom Board was not violative of Articles 15, 25 and 26 of the Constitution. Neither
was it violative of the provisions of the Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Act,
1965 as the prohibition was only in respect of women of a particular age group and not women as a
class.
The HC examined Ravivarma Raja of the Pandalam royal family, to which the temple belonged, and
the Ayyappa Seva Sangham secretary. The verdict referred to the belief that the deity is a Naisthik
Brahmachari.
Customs must be followed
The Kerala government urged the Court to consider the assertion made in 1991 by the then
Sabarimala Thanthri Sri Neelakandaru that women belonging to the 10 to 50 age group were
prohibited from entering the temple even before 1950.
A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court had examined him on April 5, 1991, before it upheld the
restriction on women of that age group offering worship at the Sabarimala shrine.
Summon records
Senior advocate V. Giri, appearing for Kerala, urged the special three-judge Bench led by Justice
Dipak Misra to summon the records of the 1991 case. According to him, these customs and usages
had to be followed for the welfare of the temple. He said only persons who had observed penance and
followed the customs are eligible to enter the temple and it is not proper for young women to do so,
the 1991 judgment had said.
Twenty-five years after this High Court judgment, the Supreme Court has questioned the logic
behind the restriction, even wondering whether there was any proof that women did not enter the
sanctum sanctorum 1,500 years ago.
Keywords: Ban on womens entry in Sabarimala
Kerala | Reported by A Vaidyanathan, Edited by Deepshikha Ghosh | Updated: February 12, 2016 20:43 IST
by Taboola
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Kerala | Reported by A Vaidyanathan, Edited by Veer Arjun Singh | Updated: January 11, 2016 23:32 IST
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Senior advocate, appearing for Kerala, said the women, who have not attained menopause,
cannot preserve the purity during the religious journey to the temple which takes 41 days.
NEW DELHI: Women cannot be banned from the famous Sabarimala temple
in Kerala, the Supreme Court said today, though it has not delivered a verdict
yet on one of the most contentious features of the famous temple, which
claims that women who menstruate are impure and must not be given
access to the hilltop shrine.
Women between the age of 10 and 50 are banned from entering the ancient
temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa. The rule, introduced by the powerful
Travancore Devasom Board that maintains the temple, must be over-turned,
a group of women lawyers have contended in their appeal to the top court.
"The temple cannot prohibit entry (women), except on the basis of religion.
Unless you have a constitutional right, you cannot prohibit entry, "said the
judges who heard the case today. The next date of hearing is February 8.
In November, the head of the temple's board, Prayar Gopalakrishnan,
created a huge controversy by stating that women would be able to access
the temple after a machine is created that would function like a body
scanner to determine which women were "pure" enough to make the cut.
Story First Published:January 11, 2016 18:56 IST