'If enough people defy the law and insist on flouting fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution in the name of religion and custom, does that endow a bigoted, unjust demand with merit?', asks Shuma Raha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-National Democratic Alliance, which fought the April 2 assembly polls with the fancy claim of winning at least 35 seats in Kerala, on Sunday came a cropper as it failed to retain even its lone segment Nemom, even as all its major contestants, including 'Metroman' E Sreedharan and party state chief K Surendran, fell by the wayside.
A senior police officer told PTI that they were taken into custody after they had offered prayers.
Hindu women devotees are not relieved but distressed by this judgment. If so, who exactly did the Supreme Court provide relief to? Who is celebrating this judgment, asks Sankrant Sanu.
'The first time a ban on women aged between 10 and 50 entering Sabarimala came was in 1991 and was by a high court judgment.' 'So, it is only a 27-year-old ban.' 'The high court can fix customs and the Supreme Court can overturn it.' 'I don't see this as an attack on religious freedom or the practice of a religion.'
Sudeep's Varadanayaka was the highest box office grosser in 2013.
Unlike previous days, the House even saw Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front members standing up from their seats and locking horns with opposition members, prompting the Speaker to warn both sides.
Gandhi, however, acknowledged that his opinion is different from that of his party on the "emotional issue" after the Supreme Court last month lifted the ban on entry of women of menstrual age to the hilltop shrine of Lord Ayyappa in Kerala.
Heavy rains pounded south and central Kerala on Saturday wreaking havoc in many parts with some people feared missing in the landslides that occurred in hilly areas bordering Kottayam and Idukki districts prompting the state government to seek the assistance of the Army and Air Force for rescue operations.
In the plea, one of the women, who had been attacked by her mother-in-law following her entry into the hilltop shrine, has sought security for both the women.
Accepting the report of the Food Safety Commissioner, that appam at Sabarimala was unfit for human consumption, the Kerala high court on Tuesday observed there was lack of proper management in the affairs of the Lord Ayyappa shrine.
The Congress chief admitted that his initial position on the Sabarimala issue was different than what it is today.
The Sabarimala hill shrine has received a record revenue of Rs 178.53 crore in 2012-13, Kerala Devaswom (temple affairs) Minister V S Sivakumar told the Assembly today. Though the exact number of pilgrims who visited the Lord Ayyappa temple this year are not available, it is generally estimated that about three crore devotees offer worship at the shrine in a year, the minister said in a written reply.
An employee of 108 Ambulance service, who tried to rescue them fell ill after inhaling the poisonous gas, said R Kalinga Rao, Madhapur Police Inspector.
A majority verdict by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices A M Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra decided to keep pending the pleas seeking a review of its decision regarding the entry of women into the shrine, and said restrictions on women in religious places was not restricted to Sabarimala alone and was prevalent in other religions as well.
Sivadasan's family has demanded a probe into his death.
A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Friday.
Amid heated debate on whether Makara jyoti of Lord Ayyappa shrine is celestial or manmade, the chief priest of Sabarimala temple on Sunday said the controversy was generated only to divert attention from the tragedy that killed 102 devotees.
'It's becoming a bit of a pilgrimage in December in Kerala. On the one hand, you have black-clad Ayyappa devotees. On the other, you have throngs of film enthusiasts showing up. With good reason, too -- this is arguably the best film festival in India, with a good selection of films, with great diversity.'
The LDF was also leading in 10 out of the 14 district panchayats and 108 block panchayats of the total of 152, according to the State Election Commission figures.
Four years after her controversial claim of touching Lord Ayyappa's idol in the Sabarimala temple triggered a raging storm, Kerala Police has decided to file a charge sheet against Kannada actress Jaimala, who said she would take legal recourse to uphold her 'innocence'.
'SC is giving us the distinct impression that verdicts, treatment of review petitions are influenced by what pleases/displeases those in power'
A round-up of Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Saturday.
'So far we have paid our salaries and pension in full because we had some reserve fund.' 'But we cannot afford to do so for more than another three months.'
In the backdrop of the Pulmedu tragedy, which claimed lives of 102 Sabarimala pilgrims, the Kerala high court on Thursday asked the Tranvacore Devaswom Board that manages the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa, if 'Makara Jyoti' (celestial light) was man-made.
Division bench comprising Justice Thottathil Radhakrishnan and P S Gopinathan directed the Police, Forest and Travancore Devaswom board to file reports regarding the reasons for the accident.
The special team of the Crime Branch of the Kerala police, which began investigation into Friday's stampede that claimed the lives of 102 Ayyappa pilgrims, will submit its initial report in four days.
Sabarimala Special Commissioner Rajendra Nair said a jeep had ploughed through the pilgrims, who were returning from 'makara samkrama pooja', using a narrow trekking path in a heavily forested hilly area, about 7km from Sabarimala hilltop shrine.
A local court has returned the chargesheet filed by police against Kannada actress Jayamala and two others on the ground that it was lacking required documents in the case relating to her claim that she once visited the Sabarimala temple and touched the idol of Lord Ayyappa, defying the custom of the hill temple.
The police said the women were told that it would be difficult to provide protection to them till the shrine as there was a possibility of protests.
The court will consider issues related to entry of Muslim women into mosques, female genital mutilation in the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community and barring of Parsi women, married to non-Parsi men, from the holy fire place at Agiary.
It was another black January 14 for Sabarimala pilgrims with Friday night's stampede tragedy being the third in the history of the hill shrine. The first tragedy shook the shrine on January 14, 1952, when it was gutted in a fire caused by an explosion of fireworks, leaving 66 Ayyappa pilgrims dead. The present shrine was rebuilt in place of the older one. In 1998, 52 pilgrims died following a stampede at Pampa, which also occurred on January 14 after 'Makara Jyothi' darshan.
CSK, with their experience of winning important moments, will certainly make Capitals wary.
The terrorist duo David Colman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana had planned to blast two major temples in Kerala -- the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple and Guruyaur Sreekrishna Swami temple -- to spread panic in the state and country, central intelligence sources told rediff.com.
The Kerala police on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against Kannada film actress Jayamala and two others in the case relating to her claim that she had touched the idol of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala temple in her prime youth in violation of the hill shrine's custom, which bars entry for women that fall in the ten to 50 age bracket.
Kerala Devaswom Minister Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the government would not support those who make announcements about entering the hill shrine for the sake of publicity.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L N Rao and Dinesh Maheshwari said it was only going into the aspect of security of the two women -- Bindu and Kanakadurga, and would not like to entertain any other prayer made in the petition.
'...that has plants and flowers of all colours and hues in it.' 'Do you think a garden with just one plant or one type of flower will be appealing?' 'No. It will look drab, uninteresting and lustreless because a garden would be captivating only if it had many flowers of different colours.'
According to custom, only believers of Hinduism are permitted entry at the temple, a major pilgrim centre and tourist attraction in the southern part of the country.
Interim president of the Congress party in Kerala M M Hassan has courted a controversy with his remarks that menstruation was impure and women should not enter temples during that period.
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