New Delhi: Declining early hearing into review petitions pertaining to the Sabarimala case, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi today said these would be heard on the earlier decided date, 22 January. There are a total of 49 review petitions challenging the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.
Gogoi also declined to entertain a contempt petition against the Sabarimala priest for conducting purification ritual in the temple after two women managed to enter the shrine on Wednesday. This will be heard along with the review petitions.
On 2 January, two women in their 40s created history by entering Sabarimala temple, breaching the shrine’s traditional ban on women of menstruating age and leaving the state shaken by protests.
Several women have tried to enter the temple since the Supreme Court’s Sabarimala verdict but were forced to return by protesters.
One of the review petitions, brought by the National Ayyappa Devotees Organization, contended that the ruling was unconstitutional, void and in violation of the principles of natural justice. The judgment is vitiated by “errors apparent on the face of record”, the petition said.
It was also claimed that the judgment was in violation of express provisions guaranteeing the liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship in Section 25 of the Constitution.
