Kerala government tells Supreme Court that 51 women under 50 years of age have entered Sabarimala

The Kerala government submitted before the Supreme Court that 51 women had entered the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa in Sabarimala since the apex court’s order in September of lifting the ban on allowing women between the age of ten and fifty years on entering the temple.

The  top court was hearing the petitions of two women – Kanakadurga (aged 42 years) and Bindu Ammini (aged 44 years) – who had entered the shrine earlier this month, when senior advocate Vijay Hansaria appearing for the Kerala government made this submission.

Using their Aadhaar details, over 7,500 women had made online registrations to enter the temple according to the senior advocate. Of them, 51 women had already entered the shrine “without any issues”, the top court was told.

A list of these 51 names were submitted in the Supreme Court in response to the petitions filed by Kanakadurga and Bindu Ammini who had managed to enter Sabarimala on January 2 after facing many challenges. With police escort and dressed in black, the women had entered the temple before the break of day.

Protests broke out throughout the state of Kerala spearheaded by right-wing activists, and members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress. Kanakadurga was allegedly attacked by her mother-in-law upon her return. This led the two women to seek protection and file the petitions.

The court has directed Kerala Police to provide round-the-clock security to these women. On being informed that the state government was already extending full security to all women who wanted to visit the Sabarimala shrine, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi pointed out that there was no harm in them continuing to do so even after the court directive.

Advocate Indira Jaising requested the clubbing together all the petitions filed on the Sabarimala issue which was rejected by the top court. She also sought from the Supreme Court directions to stop the cleansing of the temple after women entered it.

On September 28, the Supreme Court allowed the entry of women to the Sabarimala shrine upholding the individual’s right to practice her/his faith as guaranteed by the Constitution of India. This resulted in large-scale demonstrations all across Kerala protesting the entry of women inside the celibate god’s shrine.

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