The Supreme Court has said, its 2018 verdict allowing entry of girls and women of all ages into the Ayyappa temple at Kerala's Sabarimala was not the final word as the matter was referred to a larger bench. The apex court's observation came when senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for a woman devotee, Bindu Ammini, alleged violation of the 2018 verdict and said her client was attacked for her bid to enter the shrine.<br />''<br />''A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde, referring to a recent verdict of the apex court, said, the 2018 judgment was not the final word as the issue was referred to a seven-judge bench for consideration. It said, the much larger bench will decide the matter and there is no final word yet on November 14 , a five-judge Constitution bench headed by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi, in a 3:2 majority verdict, had referred the pleas seeking a review of its historic 2018 judgment to a seven-judge bench. Along with it, other contentious issues of alleged discrimination against Muslim and Parsi women were also referred.<br />''<span style="color: #222222;"><br />''In September 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench had, by a majority 4:1 verdict, allowed girls and women of all ages to visit the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala. The bench had said,&nbsp; discrimination on physiological grounds was violative of the fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution such as the right to equality.The bench agreed to list the woman devotee's plea for hearing next week.&nbsp;</span><br />
News On AIR | December 5, 2019 2:18 PM
Verdict allowing women into Sabarimala not 'final word' as matter referred to larger bench: SC