Sabarimala board cautions Apex Court on ‘tradition’

NEWDELHI: The board that manages Kerala’s Sabarimala Ayyappa temple told the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday that the practice of barring menstruating women from entering the shrine cannot be judged through the prism of constitutional morality.

The Travancore Devaswom Board cautioned the court against setting aside the tradition, saying it will open “Pandora’s box”.

“There are millions of faiths and beliefs that may not fit into constitutional morality,” the board’s lawyer, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, told a Chief Justice Dipak Misra-led Constitution Bench. He said women were not allowed into Sunni Muslim sect mosques.

Justice DY Chandrachud, a bench member, called the restrictions a “subjugation of a patriarchal society.” Singhvi objected saying, “Your lordship is imposing a subjective view.’’

Chandrachud said the court cannot accept a practice mired in chauvinism. “Prohibition is not because of male chauvinism. It is linked to the penance and character of the deity. Women accept the prohibition. It is not imposed on them,” Singhvi said.

When Chandrachud asked whether it was constitutionally valid, Singhvi said it might appear to be a problem as per modern ethos. Justice RF Nariman disagreed with Singhvi’s reply. “It is not modern ethos, but the constitutional ethos,” he said. Advocate K Parasaran, appearing for the Nair Service Society, said none of the petitioners claimed that they wanted to worship or protect their right to worship. “They say they are helping for a social cause.”