Sabarimala row: SC to hear review petitions on Feb 6

The Supreme Court on Thursday decided to take up a batch of petitions seeking reconsideration of the Sabarimala judgement on February 6.

A five-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi would consider about 50 petitions at 10.30 am on February 6, a notification issued by the Supreme Court registry stated.

The bench would comprise Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.

The top court which had earlier fixed the matter for consideration on January 22 could not take it up for hearing due to the unavailability of Justice Malhotra who was on medical leave.

The matter involved reconsideration of the September 28 judgement. According to the SC Rules, review petitions are considered by the same combination of the bench in judges chamber but in this case, it was decided to hear the matter in open court.

In the present case, since then CJI Dipak Misra who presided over the bench had retired, present CJI Ranjan Gogoi was included to hear the matter.

The court had in its judgement held that the ban imposed on women to the entry to temple of Lord Ayappa on the basis of physiological condition amounted to gender discrimination. Justice Malhotra, however, had dissented with the verdict passed by a 4:1 margin on a writ petition filed by the Indian Young Lawyers Association.

The judgement which saw huge protests in Kerala was sought to be reviewed on the ground that it was absolutely untenable and irrational.

It was contended that the deity is a 'Naistika Brahmachari', females below the age of 10 and after the age of 50 years are eligible to worship him and there is no practice of excluding worship by females.