The Supreme Court’s questioning of an age-old tradition of banning the entry of women of menstrual age in the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, is heartening, although it is debatable whether the apex court should be spending its resources trying to sort out such issues at a time when more than 30 million cases are pending in India.
Besides, religion or traditional religious beliefs, particular to the Sabarimala temple, are precisely what the temple authorities have been brandishing as the rationale behind the prohibition.
Maybe it is strange that discrimination against women should apply in the case of the Sabarimala pilgrimage, which is otherwise famous for considering all people, irrespective of their caste, class or religion, as equal before god.