Sabarimala temple row: SC to hear Kerala woman's plea next week; activist Bindu Ammini had earlier said she was stopped from entering shrine

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear next week the plea of a Kerala woman who was allegedly prevented from visiting the Sabarimala temple despite the apex court’s verdict allowing entry of women of all age groups into the shrine. A bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde considered the submission of senior advocate Indira Jaising that her client, Bindu Ammini, was attacked outside the office of the police commissioner for her bid to visit the hilltop shrine at Sabarimala. “Bindu was attacked with some chemical substance right outside the office of Commissioner of Police,” Jaising said, adding that the Kerala state authorities are not allowing women to enter the temple despite the Supreme Court’s specific order. “We will list the petition along with earlier petition next week,” the bench said. On Wednesday, another woman, Fathima, had approached the apex court with a similar plea. A five-judge Constitution bench, by a majority of 4:1 in its verdict delivered in September last year, had allowed girls and women of all age groups to visit the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala, saying that discrimination on physiological grounds was violative of fundamental rights like the Right to Equality.