Kochi: A plea urging the Kerala High Court to stop women of child-bearing age from undertaking the Sabarimala pilgrimage without arranging the basic facilities at the hill shrine has been rejected by a division bench. The court said that Constitutional bodies had the right to implement an order issued by the Supreme Court.

However, the petitioner, P D Joseph of Thrissur, could approach the apex court in this regard, said the High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar.

When the petitioner, holding up a newspaper, argued that the police resorted to force to take women of the child-bearing age to the Ayyappa Temple, the court replied that the law enforcers were only providing security to the women.

The petitioner wanted the setting up of the necessary infrastructural facilities and security arrangements before allowing young women into the temple. The police should desist from facilitating entry of the women of 10-50 age group without these basic facilities, he said in the plea.

On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra, lifted the centuries-old ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the temple.

After the ban was lifted, the shrine, which was opened for the monthly pooja on October 17, witnessed protests by a section of devotees, who prevented at least a dozen women in the 10-50 age group from entering the temple.

Though the government had considered deploying women police personnel, the plan was dropped following the protests.

The entry of menstruating women had been restricted in the hillock shrine as, according to tradition, the principal deity Lord Ayyappa is considered to be the 'Naishtika Brahmachari' or the perennial celibate. The Kerala government has stated that it would implement the verdict instead of challenging it in the Supreme Court.