Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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A Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, on Wednesday reserved for orders a series of petitions seeking re-consideration of a Supreme Court judgment that lifted the bar on menstruating women from worshipping at the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. A total of 65 petitions challenged the authority of the court to intervene in a centuries-old belief that the Sabarimala deity is a ‘Naishtika Brahmachari’, whose penance should not be disturbed by the entry of women worshippers of the menstruating age of 10-50. Fundamental duty Senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing Bindu and Kanakadurga, who fought the odds to enter the temple premises, said it was the fundamental duty of citizens under Article 51A (h) of the Constitution to “develop scientific temper, humanism, spirit of enquiry and reform.” That is what the Supreme Court judgment urges citizens to do. “What about Article 51A(e)? It says promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood…” Justice Rohinton Nariman, on the Constitution Bench, responded. “It hurts a woman very, very deeply to say she is polluted because she menstruates. The hurt caused by such discrimination goes to the heart of the Constitution,” Ms. Jaising submitted. The majority judgment in September 2018 concluded that the exclusion of menstruating women was akin to treating them as the children of a “lesser God”. It said that exclusion, especially based on a biological attribute, amounted to untouchability, an abolished social evil. The Nair Service Society, represented by veteran lawyer K. Parasaran, sought a review of the verdict on the ground that the exclusion was not based on gender or sex, but on religious faith in and character of the deity. Advocate V.K. Biju, for the Sabarimala Custom Protection Forum, argued that Tantra Samucha yam does not consider menstruation as impurity, and the court was misled.
