SC will review its Sabarimala order
Entry of women not restricted as court refuses to grant stay but priests, protesters celebrate
NEWDELHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A five-judge Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI), Ranjan Gogoi, on Tuesday agreed to reconsider its September judgment that allowed women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, but refused to stay the operation of the verdict that would have the effect of disallowing the entry of women into the hilltop shrine. The apex court bench, also comprising justices RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, fixed January 22 to take up the 49 review petitions calling for a reversal of its September 28 verdict and other applications in the matter.
In Kerala, the court’s decision to revisit the verdict was greeted with relief. Glued to their television sets the whole day, devotees of Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity in Sabarimala, celebrated the ruling by staging victory rallies and distributing sweets. Kerala’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI (M), which has vowed to enforce the court order, said the decision to review the verdict was not a setback to it, but both the Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asked chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, to see the writing on the wall and drop his “adamant posture”.
This order was issued after the petitions were circulated among the judges in their chambers at 3pm, in accordance with rules of the top court. No lawyers are present during these proceedings. As per the rules, the bench that delivers the original verdict considers the review petition. In the Sabarimala case, a new bench was convened and CJI Gogoi stepped in to head it because former chief justice Dipak Misra, who was part of the bench that delivered the original ruling in September, has since retired. The lone woman judge on the bench, justice Malhotra, dissented with the original ruling, which review petitioners have cited in support of their demand.
Several applicants had asked for an open court hearing of the petitions, which the court appears to have accepted.
“All the petitions along with all pending applications will be heard in Open Court on 22nd January, 2019, before the appropriate Bench. We make it clear that
there is no stay of the judgment and order of this Court dated 28th September, 2018, passed in Writ Petition (Civil) No.373 of 2006 (Indian Young Lawyers Association & Ors. vs. The State of Kerala & Ors,” read the order.
On September 28,the apex court ruled by a 4-1 majority that no woman can be stopped from entering Sabarimala temple, ending a traditional ban on the entry of women between 10 and 50 years of age in to the shrine. Women of reproductive age were restricted from entering the over 800-yearold shrine in south Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district because its presiding deity, Lord Ayyappa, is considered to be a celibate.