NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 28, 2018 (LA Times): Capping a month of historic judgments that have expanded civil liberties for hundreds of millions of citizens, the Indian Supreme Court on Friday overturned a Hindu temple’s ban on females of menstruating age, declaring that the centuries-old rule violated women’s rights. The renowned Sabarimala temple in the southern state of Kerala is open to all faiths but bars women and girls ages 10 to 50 on the grounds that the Deity, Lord Ayyappa, is considered celibate. The ban had been upheld in a lower court before reaching India’s highest court, where a majority of a five-judge panel found it was discriminatory.
“Patriarchy in religion cannot be permitted to trump over faith and the freedom to practice and profess one’s religion,” said Chief Justice Dipak Misra. “Rules based on biological characteristics can never pass the muster of constitutionality.” Friday’s decision came two years after a lower court in Mumbai lifted bans on women from entering the inner sanctum of a Hindu temple in Maharashtra state and the Haji Ali Muslim shrine on the Arabian Sea. Menstruation is seen by many Indian religious conservatives — not just majority Hindus, but also Muslims and Christians — as impure, with many religious rituals excluding women who are on their periods. The dissenting opinion came from Justice Indu Malhotra, the only woman on the bench, who argued that rationality has no place in matters of religion.