Five judges to decide on Hindu women's right to temple

NEW DELHI: A Constitution bench of the Supreme Court will decide whether Hindu women’s right to equal access to temples and their fundamental right to worship can be overruled on the grounds of religious tradition.

Women’s rights activists and lawyers from Kerala had challenged a Sabarimala temple rule which restricts the entry of women in their reproductive phase on the ostensible grounds that the deity was a bachelor.

Women aged between 10 and 50 years are not allowed to enter the temple.

A three-judge bench, led by CJI Dipak Misra, had examined the issue at length. The temple’s rules are ultra vires the state Act which allows equal access to women to all public places such as temples. The Constitution of India guarantees this right too.