Won't hear Sabarimala reviews for now: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday clarified that it will not examine the Sabarimala reviews for now. Instead, it will deal with petitions challenging several anti-women practices across religions in which it has been called upon to adjudicate whether faith-related practices must triumph over gender justice, a constitutional value.

A nine-judge bench, led by CJI SA Bobde, justified its decision to have an early hearing on the limits to which right to religion can be claimed especially when it impinges on the rights of another section to do the same – in this case, the right of a woman to pray. The issue was referred to nine judges by a bench led by former CJI Ranjan Gogoi.

The court brushed aside pleas to include practices such as Santhara, prevalent among the Jains, and polygamy and halala prevalent among Muslims within the purview of this hearing. Instead, the bench asked all sides to pinpoint the legal issues they wanted to raise before the nine judges. The court will now hear the case again on February 3.