Women’s entry into places of worship: India

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SC’s Sabarimala verdict

SC observation on Sabarimala is momentous, July 19, 2018: The Times of India

The Supreme Court’s observation that the religious custom that barred girls and women from entering places of worship has no constitutional legitimacy, is consequential in many ways. While hearing a petition challenging the rules of the famous hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala in Kerala, where females between the age of 10 and 50 years are not allowed entry, the five-judge bench declared that there is no concept of a private temple in a public place and therefore there could be no discrimination on the basis of gender and physiology.

In many Hindu temples menstruating females are considered to be ‘dirty’ and ‘polluted’, and therefore not eligible for entry and worship. But the court remarked that all citizens of India are entitled to the freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practice and propagate religion. This is significant because when the apex court verdict comes, in line with such observations, it will force a religious institution to amend its discriminatory rules and subsequently have a wider impact on many other dogmatic traditions of various belief systems. As a likely aftermath, it will put a question mark on the patriarchal practice of only male priests conducting religious prayers in temples, mosques and gurudwaras.

Although it is estimated that India has around 1600 Hindu female priests, there is an ongoing organic movement supporting training of women as priests for various religious ceremonies. In a first in the history of India, a Kerala woman, Jamitha, took the role of an Imam in January this year and led the Friday congregational prayers for a mixed group of men and women. However, religious fundamentalists threatened to kill her a day later, for defying Sharia. In view of such women-driven movements, the Supreme Court’s observations are momentous and will usher in modern values of equality in a highly patriarchal society.