Sabarimala: Supreme Court rejects privacy argument

NEW DELHI:The Supreme Court has refused to wade into the issue whether a deity as an independent legal entity owning property and filing taxes was entitled to privacy.

The People For Dharma used the logic to argue bachelor Lord Ayyappa of Sabarimala should not be denied the right to privacy while trying to defend the practice of not allowing women between 10 and 50 to go to the hilltop temple.

A five-judge bench led by CJI Dipak Misra sidestepped the issue when it was raised by lawyer J Sai Deepak to justify the curbs on women in their reproductive phase. “Surely, the deity (an avowed celibate) has a right to privacy,” he argued. The law treats a deity as an independent legal entity and the person in charge as guardian.


The top court has so far refused to get into matters of faith, except to state that the custom is not as hoary as claimed, and also was not an essential part of the faith.

The temple trust counsel then argued that Ayyappa worshippers represented a separate denomination. Justices RF Nariman and DY Chandrachud rejected the argument on the ground that people of many faiths visited Sabarimala.

The lawyer argued that the curbs were not intended to discriminate but exclude women.