A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra framed several questions to be dealt with by the Constitution Bench, including whether the temple can restrict women's entry.
The Kerala forest department is of the view that unrestricted entry of vehicles for ferrying pilgrims into the Pullumedu trekking path was one of the factors that paved the way for the January 14 stampede that claimed the lives of 102 Sabarimala pilgrims.
The Sabarimala stampede has sparked criticism of Kerala government and the temple board for alleged failure to act on recommendations of the panel, which probed a similar tragedy in 1999, to develop alternative routes to the hill shrine to check recurring mishaps.
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.
Prohibitory order under section 144 CrPc banning assembly of four or more people will come into force at Pamba, Nilackal, Elavungal, and Sannidhanam from midnight Saturday till November 6 midnight.
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.
Veteran Congress leader and former Defence Minister A K Antony said on Tuesday that his son, Anil K Antony, who is contesting as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, should not win the election.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce on Thursday its verdicts on a batch of petitions seeking re-examination of its decision to allow entry of women of all age group in Kerala's Sabarimala Temple and a review of its judgment giving a clean chit to the Modi government in the Rafale fighter jet deal with French firm Dassault Aviation.
One person was killed and 15 others injured in a stampede in the hill shrine of Sabarimala prompting authorities to regulate flow of devotees and vehicles.
In a U-turn, the Left Democratic Front government of Kerala on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it favoured the entry of women of all age groups in the historic Sabarimala temple in the state.
Sources told rediff.com over telephone that the pilgrims were sitting on the platform of the lorry, which was filled with sand. Most of the pilgrims had died owing to suffocation as the sand in the platform of the lorry had fallen over the pilgrims once the lorry toppled.
"The temple cannot prohibit entry (women), except on the basis of religion. Unless you have a constitutional right, you cannot prohibit entry. Anyway, we will examine it on February 8," a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and N V Ramana said.
This was also part of the right to privacy of the deity, the lawyer said.
The apex court had on Tuesday agreed to hear on January 22 in open court the pleas seeking review of its verdict but refused to stay its judgment.
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.
Asserting that it would decide on the right of women to enter the historic Sabarimala shrine on the basis of constitutional principles.
A local court in Pathanamthitta issued notices to Kannada actress Jayamala and two others in a case relating to the actress's claim that she had worshipped at Sabarimala temple in her prime of youth, defying the temple custom which barred women in 10-50 age group entering there.
Additional police force had been rushed to the Sabarimala hill shrine in Kerala in view of the heavy rush of pilgrims, Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said.
"They call themselves the champions of speech and expression. But deny the same for the people of Kerala."
Twenty Sri Lankan Tamil pilgrims visiting the shrine of Lord Ayyapa at Sabarimala, have been arrested as they did not possess proper travel documents. The pilgrims, who were said to have come from Jaffna in Sri Lanka, were arrested late last night and they would be produced in the court later today, police sources said.
Accompanied by police personnel, the members of Chennai-based women empowerment outfit 'Manithi' could barely move 100 metres through the traditional forest path towards the temple when hundreds of devotees rushed down to the valley to chase them away.
The Kerala high court on Thursday came down on the state government for failing to foresee the Pulmedu stampede in which 102 pilgrims were killed."If you provide unrestricted flow of pilgrims, necessary safeguards need to be issued or completely prevent the pilgrims from taking the Pullmedu route," a division bench comprising Justice Thothathil B Radhakrishnan and Justice P S Gopinathan said.The bench has been monitoring the Sabarimala pilgrim season since January 5.
The Supreme Court on refused to interfere with the 'Makarajyoti' controversy surrounding the famed Sabarimala Temple in Kerala and asked the petitioner to approach the state high court for remedy.A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice S H Kapadia asked the petitioner to go to the high court as it is already dealing with similar petitions on the issue. Makarajyoti is considered to be a 'celestial phenomenon'.
President Pratibha Patil on Saturday condoled the death of Sabarimala pilgrims in a stampede at Pullumedu in Kerala's Idukki district.In a letter to the Kerala chief minister and governor, she expressed grief over the tragedy.Patil wished a speedy recovery to all those injured in the incident that took place on Friday night. Over 100 pilgrims returning from the shrine were killed and 50 others injured in the stampede.
The ban on the entry of women at the hill shrine became strict following a directive of the Kerala high court in 1990 on the basis of an affidavit given by the then government in a related case
A five-judge constitution bench by a ratio of 4:1 had held that women of all age groups should be allowed entry inside Kerala's Sabarimala Temple.
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.
Considering the heavy rush to the hill shrine since last weekend, the police and security contingent deployed for crowd management will be strengthened in the coming days, official sources said in Sabarimala on Monday.
At least 102 Sabarimala devotees were killed and 50 injured in a stampede when a jeep crashed into homebound pilgrims at Pulmedu in Kerala's Idukki district, in the worst tragedy to strike the worshippers of the famed shrine in a decade.
The apex court said it would endeavour to constitute the larger bench at the earliest to hear the matter.
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.
The figure assumes significance as the Sabarimala temple had witnessed frenzied devotees opposing the entry of women belonging to the menstrual-age in the wake of landmark Supreme Court verdict permitting women of all ages to offer prayers at the hill shrine.
The state govt said that celibate status of deity cannot be a ground for barring entry of women.
Police said the tantri came in person to give the second complaint to the Central Police Circle Inspector. The police have registered the second complaint.
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 BJP chief condemned the arrest of over 2,000 devotees, including Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Sangh Parivar activists, across the state agitating against the entry of women of all ages into the temple.
The top court said the old practices of "human sacrifices" and 'sati' amounted to murder under law and could not be saved on ground of "essential religious practice".
On the last date of hearing, the Maharashtra police had produced additional letters to establish Moist links of the arrested accused even as the petitioners described it as cooked-up evidence.
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'.
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