Heena Sharma Blog

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which runs the historic Sabarimala temple in Kerala, took a U-turn in the Supreme Court on Wednesday by supporting its verdict which had allowed women of all age groups to enter the shrine. The Board, which also comprise the state government nominees, told a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that it is high time that a particular class not be discriminated on the ground of "biological attributes". In the forenoon, the Kerala government took the stand that it was in agreement with the September 28 last year verdict and had urged dismissal of petitions seeking review of the verdict. "Article 25 (1) equally entitles all persons to practice religion," senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for TDB, told the bench which also comprise Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra. The Board had earlier vehemently opposed the PIL by Indian Young Lawyers Ass...

The doors of Sabarimala temple opened on Monday for a two-day special puja amid unprecedented security over apprehension of protests by those opposing the Supreme Court order allowing women of all age groups into the shrine. This is the second time Ayyappa's temple opened in three weeks. Today, the temple is open for "Sree Chitira Atta Thirunal" puja to mark the birth anniversary of the last king of the princely state of Travancore Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma. Sabarimala virtually turned into a fortress with hundreds of police personnel, including armed commandos, dotting the place where surveillance cameras and mobile phone jammers were installed. Thousands of pilgrims entered the temple as temple tantri (head priest) Kandararu Rajeevaru and melshanti (chief priest) Unnikrishnan Namboothiri jointly opened the portals of the sanctum sanctorum around 5 pm. No special puja was performed Monday and temple doors were closed at 10 pm. Read Comple...