Supreme Court to hear 42 review petitions on Sabarimala verdict tomorrow
The Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear 42 petitions seeking a review of the earlier verdict that allowed women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple.
The Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear 42 petitions seeking a review of the earlier verdict that allowed women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple.
Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has listed all review petitions for hearing at 3 pm tomorrow.
The Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala has triggered massive protests by Hindu organisations and devotees across Kerala.
Though the apex court on October 28 allowed entry of all women into the Hindu shrine, so far no woman of menstruating age have been able to enter the temple as devotees and Sangh Parivar members have prevented them midway.
Around 14 women, including two journalists, have so far attempted to visit the temple with police security, but abandoned their attempts after massive resistance from devotees. Sabarimala temple bars women of 10 to 50 years age group from entering the temple premises.
Massive protests and violence followed after Pandalam Royals and the head priest resisted the verdict and threatened to close down the temple if women of menstruating age try to enter the temple.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPIM have taken it on themselves to execute the court's order while also welcoming the landmark judgment.
The government suffered a setback when the top police officials who were assigned security operations in Sabarimala took leave and other officials deployed at Sannidanam vanished when tension mounted on November 6 and RSS leaders took control of the situation. Fakes photos and campaigns have ravaged the Pinarayi government in the Sabarimala controversy.
"No miracle is going to happen with the Sabarimala verdict. The legal fraternity knows that the Supreme Court will not reverse the verdict. Review petitions are just another exercise to keep the issue alive," Dr Sebastine Paul, Supreme Court lawyer and former Member of Parliament, told India Today TV.
According to Paul, for BJP and Sangh, the verdict offered an "unconstitutional political space to engineer violence by tapping into Hindu sentiments on Sabarimala, and they just grabbed the opportunity".
"Sane minds, whether Hindus or non-Hindus, the Supreme Court verdict lifting the ban on women of menstruating age visiting the temple mean to abide by the law. But Hindu organisations sponsored violence and protests against the verdict with a shadow war on Constitution. They have challenged the Constitution under the cover of faith. The Supreme Court had made it clear that Constitution is supreme and above religion and every citizen has the duty and responsibility to uphold the Constitution," the lawyer pointed out.
PM violates his oath
Paul further alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by his conspicuous silence on the Sabarimala row, has violated his oath of office.
"Prime Minister Modi is the prime accused in sponsoring violence over the Sabarimala verdict. While his party is engineering violence in Kerala, party chief Amit Shah is appealing for violence and the prime minister is silent. His party president has already indicated that the BJP would prefer to have subservient judiciary in India. It reminds one of the Emergency days and Modi-Shah have started following Mrs Gandhi over RSS ideologues like Hedgewar or Sawarkar. Now, Mrs Gandhi is guiding Modi and Shah for destabilising our democratic spirits," Paul alleged.
But devotees and Hindu organisations are hopeful and praying for an intervention from the Supreme Court. "I'm very positive about the court intervention in Sabarimala. We have been praying for it," said Silpa Nair, President of People for Dharma who filed a review petition against the verdict.
According to her, the devotees are pained by the verdict.
"We, Hindus have the right to practice our faith and rituals without interference. We don't meddle with others who practice their faith. But in the Sabarimala verdict, our faith has been threatened and the government is trying to hurt our sentiments in the name of executing the verdict. So it's not a gender issue, but faith and it's not activism but just our tradition," Silpa who initiated 'We are Ready to Wait' campaign, told India Today TV.
Meanwhile, the government has taken stock of the situation and has planned to brief the bench about the violence that ensued after the verdict and the steps taken by the government to execute the order.
"We are waiting for responses from the Supreme Court and will certainly brief the accounts of violence if the bench demands," a senior official of the Law Ministry told India Today TV.
The pilgrimage season is about to begin from November 16 and will end on January 14.