Sabarimala temple opens to women of all ages

• Supreme Court has lifted the centuries-old practice of prohibiting women to enter the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala.

Background:

• The legend has it that the temple deity Ayyappa followed celibacy all through his life. Therefore, women devotees of menstruating age are considered “impure” by supporters of the ban and are prohibited from entering the temple, on the pretext that they would disturb the celibacy of the deity.

Highlights of judgement:

• Devotion cannot be subjected to discrimination and patriarchal notion cannot be allowed to trump equality in devotion.
• All devotees are equal and there cannot be any discrimination on the basis of gender.
• Rules based on biological characteristics will not muster constitution.
• Restricting menstruating women from entering the temple was almost like untouchability. "Religion cannot be the cover to deny women right to worship. To treat women as children of a lesser God is to blink at constitutional morality.
• Hence, Rule 3(b) of the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Act of 1965, which mandates the prohibition in Sabarimala temple, ultra vires the Constitution. The Rule violated the fundamental right of a Hindu woman to offer worship at a place of her choice. Right to worship is equally available to men and women.
• Justice Indu Malhotra, the lone woman judge on the Constitution Bench, dissented from the majority opinion. She held that the determination of what constituted an essential practice in a religion should not be decided by judges on the basis of their personal viewpoints. She held that essentiality of a religious practice or custom had to be decided within the religion. It was a matter of personal faith. Constitutional morality in a pluralistic society gave freedom to practice even irrational or illogical customs and usages.

Analysis:

• The Supreme Court’s ruling establishes the legal principle that individual freedom prevails over purported group rights, even in matters of religion. Devotees of Lord Ayyappa do not constitute a separate religious denomination and that the prohibition on women is not an essential part of Hindu religion.
• Beyond the legality of the practice, the court has also sought to grapple with the stigmatisation of women devotees based on a medieval view of menstruation as symbolising impurity and pollution.
• The decision reaffirms the Constitution’s transformative character and derives strength from the centrality it accords to fundamental rights.

By: Vishal