‘Customs need to be in line with Constitution’
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said customary or religious practices, like banning entry of women in the age group of 10-50 years into the famous Sabarimala temple, will have to conform to constitutional principles.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra referred to articles 25 and 26 (freedom to practice religion) of the Constitution and said that a person can only be restrained on the grounds of “public health, public order and morality”.
“After 1950 (when the Constitution came into being) everything is subject to the Constitution,” said the bench, also comprising justices RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.
The observation came when senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for the Travancore Devaswom Board which runs the Ayyappa temple in Kerala, said the court has to test if the practice is based on “bona fide belief” which is being practised for centuries.
He then said that women are not allowed in mosques across the country and testing these practices based on belief would open “pandora’s box”.
The bench told Singhvi that it was the duty of the Board to establish that the practice of banning women of a certain age group was the essential and integral part of the religious practice. It also pointed out the contradictions in the submissions made by the Board before the Kerala high court and said that it was the accepted position that women of all age groups had been allowed to enter the Sabarimala temple during the first five days of the pilgrimage and after that there entry were barred on the ground that the crowd used to swell.
In the earlier hearing of July 19, the apex court had questioned the rationale behind banning the entry of women in the 10-50 age group into the temple in Kerala, saying menstruation may begin before the age of 10 and menopause may hit women much earlier.
The Kerala government had earlier told the court that it supported the entry of women of all age groups into the shrine.
NEW DELHI: