The Centre on Thursday defended the restriction on the entry of women of menstruating age into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple, arguing that the Supreme Court’s 2018 verdict assumes men are superior while placing women on a lower pedestal. The submission was made before a nine-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, which is hearing petitions on discrimination against women in religious places and the scope of religious freedom.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that he had filed a written submission citing instances where men are not allowed in certain temples. “It is a Devi Bhagwati temple… there is one temple in Kerala where men go dressed as women. They go to beauty parlours, and female family members help them dress in sarees,” he said, highlighting that religious restrictions are not always male-centric.

Mehta noted that in the Kottankulangara Sree Devi Temple in Kerala, men participate in the annual Chamayavilakku festival by dressing as women to honour the goddess, a tradition that dates back centuries. He argued that such practices show that restrictions in temples can sometimes be woman-centric rather than discriminatory against women.

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Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj added that public morality, rather than constitutional morality as previously interpreted, should govern such cases. The Centre’s submissions indicate its stance that the 2018 Sabarimala judgment did not adequately account for religious traditions and beliefs in its assessment.

In September 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench, by a 4:1 majority, lifted the ban preventing women aged 10 to 50 from entering the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple, declaring the centuries-old practice unconstitutional. Later, on November 14, 2019, a different five-judge bench, led by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi, referred broader issues of discrimination against women at religious places to a larger bench.

The current nine-judge bench is tasked with examining these complex questions, framed to determine how freedom of religion intersects with equality and women’s rights. The matter continues to attract national attention, as it addresses longstanding tensions between religious practices and constitutional guarantees.

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