Acharya reminds SC of essentials of religions'

Kottayam: Former Lok Sabha secretary general P.D.T. Acharya wants the Supreme Court to reexamine its verdict allowing women of all ages at Sabarimala temple.

He said that in the Shirur Mutt case the seven-member SC bench had maintained that the court should not intervene in the essential and integral aspects of the religion.

"In the Shirur case, the SC held whether it's concerned with the essential and integral aspects of religion could only be decided by the tenets of the religion," he told DC.

"To determine whether it is essential, the opinion of the community should be sought. The SC hasn't examined two of these aspects while delivering the judgement. Instead, it depended on two affidavits without going into the details."

Himself an Ayyappa devotee, he welcomed the state government affidavit in the SC for the appointment of a commission to study the issue.

He termed the theory that the visit of the women in the menstrual cycle may disturb the deity as trivialising the whole issue and showing Ayyappa in the poor light.

"The deity could be worshipped by anyone who undertakes the 41 days of Vrutham," he said. "However, menstruating women cannot undertake the Vrutham, and hence the pilgrimage becomes impossible."

He said that ongoing movement against the verdict led by the BJP would only help get communal mileage. The faithful should lead the struggle.

"The current course of movements will spoil the serene and peaceful atmosphere of Sabarimala," he said.

He used to conduct the pilgrimage continuously from the end 1990s strictly observing the vrutham amidst the heavy workload at Lok Sabha.

Regardless of the myth, it gives him "a kind of spiritual energy."  A native of Karunagappally, he is now practising as a lawyer at the SC after his retirement.