Women can't be allowed at Sabarimala, Kerala tells SC

Thiruvananthapuram: The State Government has filed a ‘modified’ affidavit in the Supreme Court on Friday in which it has stated that the Sabarimala’s Ayyappa deity is a ‘naishtika brahmin’, and therefore it would be against traditions to allow women between the age of 10 and 50 at the shrine.

The latest affidavit is a virtual rejection of the affidavit submitted in 2008 during the LDF tenure, which essentially wanted women of all ages to be given the freedom to visit the hill shrine.

The Supreme Court will hear the case related to the entry of women in Sabarimala on February 8. The Travancore Devaswom Board, which runs the Sabarimala temple, has also filed an affidavit in the apex court on the same lines.

The TDB had earlier charged that it was the LDF’s affidavit that had triggered a “needless controversy”. On January 12, a Supreme Court bench had asked whether the ban on women in Sabarimala was constitutionally tenable.

The State Government’s affidavit refers to two HC verdicts that had ruled that temple rituals were ideally decided by the ‘tantri’ and not by the state.