New Delhi: Akhila Bharatiya Ayyappa Prachara Sabha will move the Supreme Court, seeking to ban the entry of non-Hindus at the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala.
The outfit said that it would file the public interest litigation in the court on Monday.
On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the then chief justice Dipak Misra, lifted the centuries-old ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine.
The Supreme Court had struck down the Rule 3(b) of Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Act that prohibited women from entering or worshipping in a place of public worship based on the existing customs and usages. The petition alleged that officials were trying to misuse the rules to let non-Hindu women to enter Sabarimala and this could hamper the communal harmony in the state.
However, Rule 3(a) the above Act says non-Hindus are barred at temples.
Kerala has been witnessing massive protests by devotees opposing the entry of girls and women of menstrual age into the Sabarimala temple since the government decided to implement the SC order. The devotees had intensified the agitation at the shrine complex and nearby areas including the base camps, Nilakkal and Pamba, since the shrine was opened for the five-day monthly puja on October 1.
