Nine-judge SC bench to hear petition regarding women's entry into Sabarimala temple and frame questions in matter

New Delhi: A nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court will hear on Monday the petition regarding women’s entry into Sabarimala temple and frame questions in the matter. [caption id=“attachment_7888591” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the Supreme Court. AP[/caption] Chief Justice (CJI) SA Bobde had said on Thursday that the court will examine the matter and hear the scope of judicial review on the point of religious faith and women’s rights. Earlier, the CJI had fixed a 10-day period for concluding the hearing on the petition seeking women’s entry into Sabarimala temple, mosques, and Parsi Agiyari. The Supreme Court had on 13 January said that it will only hear the questions referred to in the review order passed by it in November last year in the Sabarimala temple case, which allowed women and girls of all age groups to visit the shrine in Kerala. The top court had in November last year, observed that the entry of women into places of worship is not just limited to the Sabarimala temple but also includes issues like allowing Muslim and Parsi women to enter religious practice. The court is hearing a clutch of petitions seeking reconsideration of its September 2018 judgment that lifted the bar on menstruating women from worshipping in the Sabarimala temple. The apex court in a landmark 4:1 ruling had set aside decades-old restrictions on the entry of women of menstruating age inside the temple. The verdict had sparked a series of protests across Kerala, which eventually led to the filing of several petitions seeking review of the top court’s order challenging the authority of the court to intervene in a belief of the people.