The Supreme Court will decide on Tuesday when to list the petitions seeking a review of last month’s verdict that allowed women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, Live Law reported. The National Ayyappa Devotees Association and the Nair Service Society are among those who have filed review petitions in the top court.
Women of menstruating age have traditionally not been allowed into the temple, but the Supreme Court order on September 28 put an end to the restriction. The Kerala government, led by the Left Democratic Front, said it would implement the judgement, but the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have opposed it.
There have been protests outside the shrine since Wednesday, when the temple gates opened to devotees for monthly rituals for the first time since the court’s order. Protestors have stopped 10 women from praying at the hill shrine in Kerala’s Patthanamthitta district since Wednesday, the Hindustan Times reported.
Mathews Nedumpara, the counsel for National Ayyappa Devotees Association, requested a Supreme Court bench on Monday for urgent hearing of the review petition. “We know there are 19 review petitions pending,” Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said. “By tomorrow [Tuesday] we will decide when to list the matters.”
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