The police stopped a 31-year-old woman from entering the inner sanctum of Kerala’s Sabarimala temple on Sunday, after she got through the checkpoint downhill and trekked up to the shrine unnoticed, PTI reported on Monday.
Officers said the woman was with her husband and two children. Reports said they took a less frequented route after they crossed the Devaswom check post at Pampa, which is why no one noticed them. The woman, who is from Andhra Pradesh, claimed she was unaware of the restrictions at the temple.
The Sabarimala temple does not allow women between the ages of 10 and 50 to enter its inner sanctum, a practice defended by its managing authority, the Travancore Devaswom Board. On April 20, the board said women wishing to offer prayers in the temple’s inner sanctum must carry proof of age.
On October 13, the Supreme Court referred the matter of women’s entry inside the temple to a five-judge Constitution bench. The judges also framed six questions for the Constitution bench to consider and decide whether the practice is gender discriminatory and violates the right to equality and religious freedom of women.
On October 27, a plea filed in the Supreme Court said half the judges in the Constitution bench should be women.
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