Post Haji Ali Dargah judgement, focus shifts to Sabarimala case

With the judgement on allowing women’s entry to the Haji Ali Dargah, the focus is likely to shift to the apex court, which is hearing a similar plea in the case of Kerala’s famous Sabarimala temple.

Acting on a plea by NGO Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, the Bombay High Court on Friday held that the ban imposed on women from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the dargah contravened Articles 14 (equality), 15 (prohibition of discrimination) and 25 (freedom of practice and propagation of religion) provided in the Constitution.

The Supreme Court, on the other hand, is also hearing a plea by the Indian Young Lawyers Association, challenging the restriction on the entry of women aged between 10 and 50 to the Ayyappa Temple in  Sabarimala.

The LDF government in Kerala has on the last date of hearing on July 11 justified the stand taken by the previous Congress-led UDF regime, supporting the regulation.

The apex court, which had maintained that there was a need for balancing the rights of women, who wanted entry, and the temple that tried to maintain its practice, had then expressed surprise over the state’s stance on the issue. 

In the affidavit filed in February, the UDF government defended the restriction on the entry of women to the temple, stressing that rituals, ceremonies and modes of worship are exclusive matters of the religion protected under the Constitution.