Earlier judgement should be scrapped, says activist Rahul Easwar

New Delhi, Nov 14: Welcoming the verdict, activist Rahul Easwar, who had spearheaded the case against the September 28 judgment, said, it is a victory for us. Speaking to media, he said,"This is a victory for us. There is an admission that the earlier judgement should be scrapped. We are proud of SC."

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court, in a 3:2 judgment, has referred the crucial Sabarimala case to a larger Constitution Bench. The constitution of the larger bench will be decided by the new Chief Justice of India.

In the dissenting note, Justices Nariman and Chandrachud say that the Muslim and Parsi women are not even before this court in the present batch of petitions.

The Sabrimala verdict will be delivered by a constitution bench comprising Chief Justice of Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.

The order was reserved by the court in February earlier this year. The apex court, by a majority verdict of 4:1, on September 28, 2018, had lifted the ban that prevented women and girls between the age of 10 and 50 from entering the famous Ayyappa shrine in Kerala and had held that this centuries-old Hindu religious practice was illegal and unconstitutional.

The five-judge constitution had heard the pleas in an open court and reserved its decision after hearing the parties, including Nair Service Society, Thantry of the temple, The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and the state government, in favour and against the review plea. The TDB, which runs Sabarimala temple, had made a U-turn to support the Supreme Court's order allowing women of all ages to enter the shrine. The TDB had joined the Kerala government to oppose a batch of pleas seeking review of the historic verdict. The Board later asserted that its latest position was not due to any political pressure.