New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that its nine-judge Constitution bench would wrap up within 10 days proceedings in the matter relating to discrimination against women in various religions and at religious places including Kerala's Sabarimala Temple.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde made it clear that questions to be dealt with would be purely legal in nature and it would not take more time in concluding the hearing.
"It cannot take more than 10 days. Even if someone wants more time, it cannot be given," said the bench which also comprised justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant.
The observations came when Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the case before the bench, saying that in pursuance of the court's earlier direction a meeting of lawyers took place but it could not finalise the common legal questions for consideration of the nine-judge bench.
"We could not finalise common questions for consideration of my lords. The Supreme Court can consider framing the questions," the law officer said.
The bench then asked Mehta to furnish issues dealt by lawyers in the meeting.
The court will consider issues related to entry of Muslim women into mosques, female genital mutilation in the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community and barring of Parsi women, married to non-Parsi men, from the holy fire place at Agiary.
The Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district, which draws devotees from various parts of the country, had witnessed unprecedented protests by right wing outfits and BJP workers last year after the CPI(M)-led LDF government decided to implement the September 28, 2018 Supreme Court order lifting the traditional ban on women and girls in menstrual age from offering prayers.
A majority verdict by then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices A M Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra decided to keep pending pleas seeking a review of its decision regarding entry of women into the shrine, and said restrictions on women in religious places was not restricted to Sabarimala alone and was prevalent in other religions as well. The minority verdict by Justices R F Nariman and D Y Chandrachud gave a dissenting view by dismissing all review pleas and directing compliance of its September 28 decision.
This year, against the backdrop of the top court's decision to refer a batch of review pleas against its earlier verdict to a larger bench, the state government had said those women desirous of visiting the hill temple should get a "court order" and it would not encourage activism. During this season, some young women who came to Sabarimala were not allowed by authorities to trek to the Ayyappa temple.
