Kumari told ANI that the women of the nation are looking up to the Supreme Court to end the persisting gender discrimination in the nation.
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The customary practices can not override constitutional values, it said. And also to not allow women in the name of tradition is arbitrary. We are very happy. Holding that religious bodies were free to frame rules for functioning of temples and other religious places, the court said such rules should be within constitutional principles.
The court on February 11 said why the Board discriminates against women when Vedas, Upanishads do not discriminate between men and women.
This question was posed by the Supreme Court to the Sabarimala authorities on the “class grievance” of women denied entry at the Kerala temple, presided over by a celibate deity. “The practice of denying entry to women and girls between 10-50 years into the temple leads to stigma and shame based on gender, and violation of rights of women under Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, and is not protected by Articles 25 or 26 of the Constitution”, she said. You have structured God into an idol. Can you say don’t come because you are a woman?
Senior advocate Indira Jaising said she opposed the discrimination on the ground of gender and the Board can not prevent the entry of women.
Justice Deepak Mishra questioned if tradition can “over-ride constitutional provisions”, and said “Can we constitutionally reconcile with the idea that women can’t be allowed in sanctum sanctorum…” Women in the age group of 10-50 are not allowed entry.
“We will like to understand as to what right they have to forbid a woman from entering the temple, a public place”, the bench said, visibly unimpressed with the arguments that the practice has been observed for centuries and much before the Constitution came into being.
Yielding to a high voltage campaign by activists, the Shani Shingnapur temple trust last week allowed women to enter the sanctum Sanctorum, breaking the tradition followed for several decades.
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Kerala government, in its recent affidavit, had said the prohibition of women was a “matter of religion” and it was duty-bound to “protect the right to practice the religion of these devotees”.
