SC To Deliver Verdict On Review Petition On Sabarimala, Will Seal Fate Of Women Devotees
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Over 10,000 police personnel will be stationed in and around Sabarimala Lord Ayappa temple in Pathanamthitta district in Kerala for security during the upcoming pilgrimage season. This comes in the backdrop of Supreme Court’s verdict in the petition seeking review of the judgement which allowed women of all ages to enter Sabarimala Shrine.

The two-month-long Mandala Makkarvillakku festival will begin on November 17. DGP Loknath Behara said that there will be stringent security measures in and around Sabarimala during the pilgrimage season. For this, 10,017 police personnel will be deployed around the temple complex in five phases. This will include 24 Superintendents of Police(SP) and Assistant Superintendents of Police(ASP), 112 Deputy Superintendents(DySP), 264 Circle Inspectors(CI), and 1185 Sub Inspectors(SI). 8402 civil police officers including 307 female officers will also be on duty in and around the temple.

In the first phase of the security measures from November 15-30, 2,551 police officers will be deployed at Sannidhanam(temple shrine), Pamba, Nilackal, Erumeli and Pathanamthitta. The second phase from November 30 to December 14 will see 2,539 officers on duty. While 2992 officers will be on duty during the third phase, 3077 officers will be deployed during the fourth phase, reported India Today.

Supreme Court’s Verdict On Review Petitions To Come Out Tomorrow

The Supreme Court is slated to rule on over 65 review petitions questioning the 2018 Supreme Court verdict on Thursday, November 14. The review petitions were filed by Travancore Devaswom Board, the Pandalam Royal Family and groups of devotees. The judgement will be pronounced by a bench comprising of Chief Justice of India(CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, Justices Rohinton Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.

On September 28, 2018, the Supreme Court gave the judgement allowing women of all ages to worship at the temple. Owing to the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s decision to implement the Supreme Court verdict, massive protests had erupted across the state. The 4:1 verdict was delivered by a five-judge constitution bench headed by the then CJI Dipak Misra.

The verdict had upheld women’s right to worship Lord Ayyappa in the temple. Mishra had stated that the ban on menstruating women’s entry into the temple was gender discrimination and violation of the women’s rights to worship. Lord Ayappa is believed to be a celibate, owing to which women aged between 10 years and 50 years were prevented from entering the temple premises. The Supreme Court verdict is in direct contradiction to this custom.

Meanwhile, Kadakampally Surendran, Kerala Minister for Co-Operation, Tourism and Devaswom, has urged the BJP to respect the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala. “Now, the Ayodhya case verdict has come, your party has welcomed it with open arms. Hope the same attitude will be there with respect to the Sabarimala issue,” Surendran was quoted as saying by News18.

Also Read: SC Allows Entry Of Women Of All Ages To Sabarimala Temple, Says Exclusionary Practices Violate Right To Worship

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Editor : The Logical Indian

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