In an election year, the Kerala Government has abandoned women and chosen to go with religious heads by backing an age-old restriction on members of the fair sex aged between 10 and 50 years from offering worship to the “celibate” deity at the holy shrine at Sabarimala.
Stating this in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on Friday, the State Government retracted from its earlier affidavit of November 13, 2007 which had supported a PIl pending in the SC on allowing women to enter
the shrine.
With the hearing on the PIl slated for next week, the State Government sought permission to withdraw the earlier affidavit. The new affidavit filed by Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson openly backed the claim by Hindu priests called Tantris that barring women between 10 and 50 years is part of custom and usage followed at the temple and these customs form an “essential and integral” part of Hindu religion, which is protected under the umbrella of fundamental rights available to all religions under Article 25 and 26.
The State further argued that while it is for the court to determine whether such a practice falls under the essential and integral part of a religion, a SC decision pronounced recently in the Ritu Prasad Sharma vs State of Assam case had held that religious customs are immune from challenge under Article 14 (right to equality).
The affidavit further quoted the head Tantri of the Sabarimala temple: “Since the deity is a Naisthik Brahmachari, it is believed that young women should not offer worship in the temple so that even the slightest deviation from celibacy and austerity observed by the deity is not caused by the presence of women.”
Ironically, while the State opposed the ban on women worshipping at Sabarimala temple, it celebrated the spirit of diversity at Sabarimala where devotees from all religions are allowed to worship. This character of the temple is further revealed by the existence of a special shrine of Vavar Swami, who was a holy man from Islamic faith, within the precincts of Sabarimala shrine. “It is only after paying obeisance before Vavar Swami that the devotees enter the shrine of lord Ayyappan.”
It will be interesting to see how the SC views the change of heart by the State Government. On the earlier date last month, the apex Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra had questioned the gender discrimination and sought an end to such restrictions applying the constitutional freedom available to all citizens.
The earlier affidavit of the State Government had said: “It is not fair to deny a section of women from entering Sabarimala Temple and worship there.” The present affidavit said that while lakhs of women devotees visit Sabarimala every year, yet the restriction on women in the menstrual age (10-50 years) is from time immemorial. “This is in keeping with the unique pratishta sankalp of the temple. The same is an essential and integral part of the right to practice of religion of a devotee and comes under protection guarantee under Article 25 and 26.”