Sabarimala women's entry; Supreme Court to consider petitions

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will hear the Sabarimala women's entry petitions on Monday. The court has started listing the petitions filed seeking review of the verdict allowing entry of women to Sabarimala.

The petitions are being considered by a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant. The Supreme Court last considered the issue related to the entry of women in 2019. The case is now being considered again after six years. The Supreme Court will inform on Monday when the nine-judge bench will start hearing the case.

The current Chief Justice Suryakant is the only remaining judge among the judges who were present when the nine-judge bench considered the case in 2019. It is interesting to note that the petitions will be heard before the assembly elections. The Kerala government will have to state its position when the petitions are considered. Earlier, the state government had taken a stand in favour of the entry of women.

The Supreme Court issued a historic verdict allowing women to enter Sabarimala on September 28, 2018. Later, a five-judge bench that considered the matter referred the petitions to a larger bench for consideration. The legal battle over women's entry to the Sabarimala temple began when the Kerala High Court treated a 1990 letter from devotee S. Mahendran as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).