India’s Supreme Court Is On A Mission
Every day, it seems India’s highest court is making policy instead of the government. What to do with mob lynchings. Whether being gay is legal. What to do with adulterers, and disputed religious land. And today, whether menstruating women can enter a Hindu temple.
Today, the Supreme Court said women can no longer be barred from entering the Sabarimala temple, considered to be one of the holiest for Hindus. The temple in Kerala barred women of a “menstruating age” — defined as between the ages of 10 and 50 — from entering.
Menstruating women are not allowed to participate in religious rituals or enter temples, as they are considered “unclean” in Hinduism. For centuries, temples and shrines have cited tradition to keep women out and their managements, dominated mostly by patriarchal men, have used menstruation to keep female devotees away.
But in recent years, they have faced an unprecedented challenge from women’s groups.
Friday’s order, which accepts women’s right to worship at Sabarimala, is expected to help remove some of the stigma associated with periods.
The ruling came after a petition argued the custom violated gender equality.
While most Hindu temples allow women to enter as long as they are not menstruating, the Sabarimala temple is unusual in that it is one of a few temples that does not allow women in the broad age group to enter at all.
The Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the temple, had argued that the centuries-old practice was based on a “well-founded bonafide belief.” It said the practice was justified because it would be physiologically impossible for women to perform the 41-day penance (vritham) of fasting and celibacy. However, while this period of penance is a requirement to enter the temple, it is often not followed fully by even the male devotees.
While reading out the judgment, Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that “religion is for one dignity and identity,” adding that “the right to practise religion is available to both men and women”.
That’s Supreme Court equivalent for ‘mic drop’.
You won’t believe which judge dissented
Strangely enough, Justice Indu Malhotra, the only woman in the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court actually gave a dissenting judgment, disagreeing with her peers.
Justice said that issues which have deep religious connotation should not be tinkered with to maintain secular atmosphere in the country.
“It is not for court to interfere in religious practices even if it appears discriminatory. Notions of rationality cannot be brought into matters of religion,” she said.
She was of the view that it is not for courts to determine which religious practices are to be struck down except in issues of social evil like ‘Sati’.
Ketto & Women’s Empowerment/Gender Equality
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