Why Religions In India Discriminate Against Women

The Supreme Court ruling on the Sabarimala temple casts a bright light on religious practices that diminish women. Six experts, scholars, activists and authors consider the vexed relationship between patriarchy, women, religion and the law

- Flavia Agnes

The Deepest Taboo

Flavia Agnes (Legal scholar and women’s rights lawyer)

Ending a centuries-old tradition, a five-judge constitutional bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, on September 28 struck down the restriction on women in the 10-50 age group from entering the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala. The court ruled that the provision in the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Rules, 1965, which laid down the restriction, violated the right of Hindu women to practise religion. While Justices R.F. Nariman and D.Y. Chandrachud gave separate judgments, which concurred with the views of the CJI and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Justice Indu Malhotra, the lone woman judge on the bench, gave a dissenting judgment.

The Kerala High Court had upheld the provision barring women from entering the shrine on grounds that only the presiding priest was empowered to decide on traditions. The Indian Young Lawyers Association and others challenged this ruling in the Supreme Court, arguing that the tradition was discriminatory and based on the concept of women’s menstrual impurity. Justice Chandrachud held that such a restriction on women amounts to a violation of their human dignity. It was the duty of the court to uphold the constitutional morality enshrined in the preamble of the constitution, which is based on equality, freedom and human dignity, and declared that barring women’s entry into the Sabarimala shrine is discriminatory.