Sabarimala Temple.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking review of its judgment on lifting ban of entry of women into the Sabarimala Temple.
The plea, filed by Shylaja Vijayan, president of National Ayyappa Devotees Association, said the September 28 judgment which had allowed entry of women of all ages in the hill-top shrine is "absolutely untenable and irrational, if not perverse".
Earlier in a landmark judgment on September 28, the five member Constitution bench headed by former Chief Justice Dipak Misra allowed the entry of women into the Ayyappa temple irrespective of their age.
Meanwhile, the head priests of the Sabarimala shrine have rejected Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s offer for talks over the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all ages to worship at the complex, saying the government had already decided to enforce the order.
The temple authorities have said the ban is essential to the rites related to the deity, who is considered eternally celibate.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Kerala government, which has accepted the order of the apex court and is making safety arrangements for the women devotees, reiterated its stand after the ‘tantris’ (chief priests) backed out of the talks.
