Supreme Court: The nine-judge bench of Supreme Court will hear the Sabarimala matter again on Thursday after hearing the matter today.
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta told the Court that the issues can be framed in the chambers itself. He stated that there is no need to frame the questions and other issues if relevant, in an open court. After hearing Mehta’s submissions, CJI SA Bobde observed that there are questions that arose in Sabarimala, and also there are questions that are there in other cases such as Muslim women’s demand to enter mosques, and the FGM in Dawoodi Bohras and whether Parsi women married to non-Parsis lose religion.
Earlier, CJI Bobde had said that the court will examine the matter and hear the scope of judicial review on the point of religious faith and women’s rights. He had fixed a 10-day period for concluding the hearing on the petition seeking women’s entry into Sabarimala temple, mosques, and Parsi Agiyari.
The Court had on January 13 said that it will only hear the questions referred to in the review order passed by it in November last year in the Sabarimala temple case, which allowed women and girls of all age groups to visit the shrine in Kerala. The bench had asked counsels to consult each other and decide which issue is to be argued by whom as done during Ayodhya hearing.
The Court had in November last year, suggested that the Sabarimala issue along with other related issues, be heard by a larger bench of at least 7-judges.
The court is hearing a clutch of petitions seeking reconsideration of its September 2018 judgment that lifted the bar on menstruating women from worshipping in the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.
The Court in a landmark 4:1 ruling had set aside decades-old restrictions on the entry of women of menstruating age inside the temple.
The verdict had sparked a series of protests across the state, which eventually led to the filing of several petitions seeking review of the top court’s order challenging the authority of the court to intervene in a belief of the people.
(With inputs from ANI)
Read more about the opinions of all the judges in the 4:1 majority verdict here.