19, Jan 2016

Krishnadas Rajagopal
NEW DELHI, January 19, 2016
A Division Bench of the Kerala HC had upheld the restriction on women of a particular age group offering worship at the shrine.
In a submission that may indicate the Kerala government’s position on access to women aged between 10 and 50 to the Sabarimala shrine, the State asked the Supreme Court on Monday to call for the records of a 1991 judgment of the Kerala High Court, which held that the restriction was in accordance with a usage from time immemorial and not discriminatory under the Constitution.
A Division Bench of the Kerala HC had, on April 5, 1991, examined the Sabarimala Thanthri (chief priest) and upheld the restriction on women of a particular age group offering worship at the shrine.
The HC Bench of Justices K. Paripoornan and K.B. Marar held that the prohibition imposed by the Travancore Devaswom Board was not violative of Articles 15, 25 and 26 of the Constitution. Neither was it violative of the provisions of the Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Act, 1965 as the prohibition was only in respect of women of a particular age group and not women as a class.