The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that the restriction on women of menstruating age entering Kerala's Sabarimala temple is a matter of religious faith and denominational autonomy, falling outside the purview of judicial review. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that courts should not apply 'secular standards of reason' to religious practices.
The Sabarimala temple women's entry issue has resurfaced in Kerala, leading to a political debate between the ruling CPI(M) and the opposition Congress, as the Supreme Court is scheduled to consider review petitions related to its 2018 verdict.
The famous Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala, opened for the annual Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season, is all set to receive more pilgrims now with the Kerala government deciding to allow more devotees for darshan by adhering to Covid-19 protocols.
The first batch of police personnel had taken charge of the security on Saturday.
Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the shrine, said revenue collection on the opening day registered a growth of Rs 1.28 crore compared to last year.
It is the first annual pilgrimage season at the hill temple after the coronavirus outbreak and authorities have decided to restrict the number of devotees to 1,000 per day and to 2,000 on weekends.
The Kerala government has made it clear that it would not provide security to any woman of menstruating age visiting the shrine, as per Devaswom Board Minister K Surendran.
'Considering menstruating women impure is a Dravidian custom and is associated with the worship of nature by the tribal people'
The Kerala government dubbed Desai's attempt to visit Sabarimala as a 'conspiracy'.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, however, told reporters that no one would be allowed to block devotees from proceeding to Sabarimala.
'The Sabarimala issue is no longer in splendid isolation.'
