Case Comment On Indian Young Lawyers Association V. The State of Kerala

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CASE COMMENT ON INDIAN YOUNG LAWYERS ASSOCIATION V.

THE STATE OF KERALA

Submitted By

KRISHNA AHUJA

SM0118069

2nd year & 4th Semester

Faculty in Charge

MR. HIMANGSHU RANJAN NATH

NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY AND JUDICIAL ACADEMY, ASSAM

GUWAHATI
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Statutes…………………………………………………………………………. 3

Table of Cases……………………………………………………………………………. 3

Table of Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………4

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...5

1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………..5

1.1 Research Questions ……………………………………………………………..7

1.2 Literature Review………………………………………………………………..7

1.3 Scope…………………………………………………………………………….7

1.4 Objectives………………………………………………………………………..8

1.5 Research Methodology…………………………………………………………..8

2. BACKGROUND………………………………………………………………….…9

3. ANALYSIS………………..........................................................................................12

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………….…..……………16

BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………....17

2
TABLE OF CASES
1. Vishaka & Ors v. State Of Rajasthan & Ors, AIR 1997 SC 3011
2. Mrs. Mary Roy Etc. Etc vs State Of Kerala & Ors, 1986 AIR 1011, 1986 SCR (1) 371
3. Lata Singh vs State Of U.P. & Another , ((2006) 5 SCC 475)
4. Roxann Sharma vs Arun Sharma, (2015) 8 SCC 318

TABLE OF STATUTES
SLNo. STATUTES / ACTS AGE OF THE CHILD

1. Indian Majority Act,1875 18 years

2. The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 21 years for male and 18 years for female

3. The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 15 years


1933
4. The Factories Act,1948
14 years

5. The Apprentices Act, 1961 14 years

6. The Women’s and Children’s


18 years both for male and female
Institutions (Licensing) Act, 1956

3
7. The Mine’s Amendment Act, 1983 18 years

8. The Child Labour (Prohibition and


14 years
Regulation Act), 1986

9. The Immoral Traffic (Prevention ) Act,


16 years
1986

10. The Juvenile Justice Act, 2001 18 years

TABLE OF ABBREVIATION

4
SLNo. ABBREVIATION EXPANSION

1. AIR All India Report

2. SCC Supreme Court Cases

3. Ker Kerala

4. LR Law Review

5. Ors. Others

6. SC Supreme Court

ABSTRACT
5
The Ministry of Women and Child Development has been administering various special laws
relating to women such as ‘The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005’, ‘The
Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961’, ‘The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986’,
‘The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act,
2013’, and ‘The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006’. India is signatory to United Nations
Convention on Right of Child (UNCRC) since 1992. In adherence to its commitment to ensure
child rights, the Government has framed the National Policy for Children 2013 and National
Plan of Action 2016. It has also framed Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015, The
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and The Commissions for
Protection of Child Right (CPCR) Act, 2005. In This Project Work we will discuss about these
special rights of women and children under the constitution of India.

1. INTRODUCTION

Every now and then we hear some or the other person talking about stuff like feminism, gender
equality and so on but the real question remains intact, are we really worried about gender
equality? India has been tackling with a serious disease of patriarchy i.e. male dominating
society since long. We live in a society of hypocrites wherein everyone talks about women
empowerment and women rights but no one takes a stand for the same.
According to the report published by UNDP India ranked 127 in Gender Inequality Index 1 which
shows the deteriorating condition of India with respect to Gender Equality. Although Indian
government is trying to change the current scenario and bring back gender equality as it used to
prevail in early Vedic period but the initiative does not seems to be successful. Gender equality
is not a concept that can be achieved in one day or so it requires rigorous effort from both the
side government as well as citizens. To achieve equality we need to change our mentality, we
need to understand that women are not meant to be the slave of men they are on par with them.
Case can be recorded as one of the most recent uprising for women rights. It is the fight of
women against the age old exploitative religious principles which prohibit them to enter the

1
United Nations Development Project, Human Development Report, Gender Inequality Index (2017),
http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/GII.

6
premises of the holy Sabarimala Temple situated on Sabarimala hilltop (about 3000 feet above
sea level) in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. This temple is in dispute due to its custom of
restricting women of age group of 10-50 years from entering the temple. The raison d’etre is that
the women between the age group of 10-50 years are considered to be impure, as they are the
women of menstruating age which seems a lame reason to the authors. Moreover, this restriction
on women was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It is as distressing an irony as
any that these rules were made under a legislation, Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship
(Authorisation of Entry) Act 1965, meant to attack discrimination and facilitate temple entry.2
Such uprisings against women rights show that achieving gender equality is still a fancy dream
for the Indian society. Sometimes, there is thought striking in our mind, that are we really living
in 21st Century which is regarded as the age of technology and development? The dichotomy
lies in the current societal behavior which on one hand overtly promotes gender equality and on
the other hand it covertly suppresses the women. Still women are considered as the weaker
section of the society which needs the help of patriarchal power to survive in this society.
The dissent of Justice Malhotra is basically premised on two major grounds which are: one,
maintainability of petitions concerning religious practices under Article 32, and two, application
of Article 14 in case of such practices. Firstly, the dissent questions the scope of public interest
litigations in matters involving religious faith. It makes a distinction between the litigations in
public interest and litigations in public interest involving religious sentiments. Justice Malhotra
says that allowing such PILs will result in the apex court being flooded with cases involving
religious sentiments by interlopers in the name of PILs. She goes on to say that one who does not
belong to that particular religion and/or subscribe to the particular faith has no right to approach
the court under Article 32 as the person cannot be said to be aggrieved. 3 The project tried to
comprehend the Court’s decision regarding the same.

2
Satya Prasoon, The Sabarimala Case has the Potential to be a constitutional watershed, The Wire (Nov.7, 2016),
https://thewire.in/law/sabrimala-temple-case-constitutional-watershed.
3
Ankitesh Ojha, #Sabarimala dissent from the dissent of Justice Indu Malhotra: New Boundaries for Article 14?,
The Leaflet (Oct.22, 2018), https://theleaflet.in/sabarimala-dissent-from-the-dissent-of-justice-indu-malhotranew-
boundaries-for-article-14/.

7
1.1 Research Questions
Q1. The rule that disallows women from entering temples for the sake of custom was challenged
so as to prove that it violates Articles 14 and 15(3) of the Constitution on the grounds of sex.

Q2. Whether the practice constitutes an ‘essential religious practice’ under Article 25?

Q3. Whether a religious institution could assert its claim to do so under the right to manage its
own affairs in the matters of religion?

Q4. Whether the exclusionary practice based on a biological factor exclusive to the female
gender amounts to ‘discrimination’?

Q5. Whether Sabarimala temple had a denominational character?

1.2 Literature Review


Sekar4 in her book gives a detailed study of the act associated with the temple and deity. This
book helped gaining knowledge about the origins of the deity Ayyappa which can be traced to
antiquity and it also talks about the movement that has gained momentum and popularity only in
the last four decades spreading beyond the parochial limits of Kerala.
Pandey5 in his book lucidly explains the principles of constitutional law and right to religion. It
immensely helped the researcher in getting the basic understanding of the topic. In this Pandey
has cited the observation of the Judges, which makes the concept lucid.
Jain6 in his book vividly describes crude principles of constitutional law. It helped the author to
grasp subtle principles of Article 25 and right to religion. This book also introduces us to the
various interpretation rendered by the Supreme Court of India towards the issue of right to
religion.

1.3 Scope and Objectives

4
Radhika Sekar, The Process of Pilgrimage: The Ayyappa Cultus and Sabarimala Yatra, (1987).
5
Dr. J. N. Pandey, Constitutional Law of India, (54th edn. 2017).
6
M P Jain, Indian Constitutional Law, (2018).

8
SCOPE:
The scope of this project is to study about the development of feminist jurisprudence in India
through the landmark judgments of Supreme Court and how these judgments paved a way for
women rights activism in India. This project tries to find how the view of judiciary changed
towards women right activism and gender justice. It also studies about the dilemma faced by
feminist scholars on the issue involving personal laws and gender justice. It examines
justifiability of the biasness of the judiciary towards women rights issues and its protectionist
approach.

OBJECTIVES:
The objectives of this project are as follow:

 To study about what feminist jurisprudence is and how it developed in India.

 To study about the issues development of feminist jurisprudence in India from Shah Bano
to Shayara Bano case.

 To study about the contestations and dilemma involving personal laws and women right.

 To study about the protectionist nature of the judiciary towards issues of gender justice.

1.4 Research Methodology

In this project, the materials needed where available in libraries, archives and other data-bases.
Various types of journals, articles and reputed websites were used to get the adequate data
essential information for this project. Researcher also found several reputed websites and
online data-bases and archives which were very useful to better understand this topic.

The researcher has used Bluebook 20th Edition, citation mode.

9
2. BACKGROUND

Sabarimala is a Hindu pilgrimage situated on a hill in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. This


temple is in controversy since long ago due to its custom of discriminating women of
reproductive age. This temple restricts the entry of women of 10-50 years from not only entering
the temple building but also from arduous trekking which leads to the temple. Even though this
pilgrimage witnesses millions of devotees but women are restricted due to their biological and
physiological features.

Sabarimala temple worships Lord Ayyappa who is considered as the god of celibacy. The myths
and legend of Lord Ayyappa are not present in any of the major Puranic text but are found in the
folksong of Kerala and Coorg. Lord Ayyappa is a son of Lord Siva and Lord Vishnu in his
incarnation form of Mohini.7 According to the ancient folklore Lord Siva and Vishnu combined
their powers and created a Sage Datta. Simultaneously their consorts created Lila who married
the sage Datta but, the problem was aroused when Sage Datta tried to choose spiritual life and
sacrifice all worldly things but, Lila’s desire were not satiated and she refused to permit Datta to
live a spiritual life. Consequently, sage Datta cursed Lila to be born as demoness Mihisi in his
next life which was eventually destroyed by Lord Ayyappa. From that dead Mahisi emerged Lila
who wished to marry Lord Ayyappa but he had taken the vow of celibacy which was possible to
be broken only when pilgrims would have stopped journeying to his shrine.8

This is one of the various folklores famous about the birth of Lord Ayyappa but what is the exact
truth no one is aware of till date. Females according to the ancient stories were considered as the
sign of eroticism and sexual thoughts which tend to break the celibacy of men therefore, priest
along with devotees stopped the entry of women on the lame ground that the vow of celibacy of

7
Richa Taneja, The Story of Sabarimala: Origin, Beliefs And Controversy Over Women Entry, NDTV (Oct. 17,
2018), https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/the-story-of-sabarimala-origin-beliefs-and-controversy-on-women-entry-
1933477.
8
Radhika Sekar, The Process of Pilgrimage: The Ayyappa Cultus and Sabarimala Yatra 12-14 (1988).

10
Lord Ayyappa will be broken if a woman enters the temple. 9 If we consider this ancient folklore
as the correct one but the contention which arises is that nowhere in the ancient folklore there is a
discussion about not allowing women to enter the temple premises. Stories just lay the stress on
the vow of Lord Ayyappa and his purity, no story claims women to be impure or the danger to
the celibacy of Lord Ayyappa. Purity is not and cannot be a constitutional ideal, especially since
the measures of purity are defined by and sculpted from vicious structures and wellsprings of
casteism and patriarchy.

The notion prevailing that menstruating women are impure or tend to arouse sexual thought are
the rumors prevailing in the society which is constantly degrading image of the deity. This wrong
interpretation of celibacy by the people can be proved by the instance that before 1995 women of
all the ages were allowed to enter the temple for the first rice feeding ceremony of their children.

Hindu dharma celebrates divinity in its complex diversity. 10 Lord Ayyappa is worshipped in
India in various forms and in other temple women are allowed to enter. If Lord Ayyappa restricts
entry of women to his premises then there should had been ban on entry of women in those
temples also. Therefore it is evident that, proves that this discriminating provision was not
present from ancient times these provisions were created by ordinary people for fulfilling their
whims and fancies.

The reason cited by the temple authorities for restricting entry of women in Sabarimala Temple
is that Lord Ayyappa is said to have taken the vow of being a 'Naishtika Brahmachari' which
means that preserving the semen from falling to the ground or flowing down as this hinders the
spiritual growth.

According to Shri Swami Sivananda who defines the true meaning of being a celibate or
brahmacharya it literally means Achara or conduct that leads to the realization of Brahman or
one’s own self. It means the control of semen, the study of the Vedas and contemplation on God.
The technical meaning of Brahmacharya is self-restraint, particularly mastery of perfect control
over the sexual organ or freedom from lust in thought, word and deed. Strict abstinence is not
merely from sexual intercourse, but also from auto-erotic manifestations, from homosexual acts
9
George Augustine, Sabarimala: A debate between modernity and age-old practices, Hindu Human Right, (Jan.28,
2016) http://www.hinduhumanrights.info/sabarimala-the-debate-between-modernity-and-age-oldpractices/.
10
Sandhya Jain, Sabarimala justice downsizes divinity, The Pioneer (Oct. 16, 2018),
https://www.dailypioneer.com/2018/columnists/sabarimala--justice-downsizes-divinity.html.

11
and from all perverse sexual practices. It must further involve a permanent abstention from
indulgence in erotic imagination and voluptuous reverie.11
The exclusion of (a class of) women from the Sabarimala Temple was justified on the basis of
ancient custom, which was sanctioned by Rule 3(b), framed by the Government under the
authority of the 1965 Kerala Hindu Places of Worship (Authorisation of Entry Act). Section 3 of
the Act required that places of public worship be open to all sections and classes of Hindus,
subject to special rules for religious denominations. Rule 3(b), however, provided for the
exclusion of “women at such time during which they are not by custom and usage allowed to
enter a place of public worship.” These pieces of legislation, in turn, were juxtaposed against
constitutional provisions such as Article 25(1) (freedom of worship), Article 26 (freedom of
religious denominations to regulate their own practices), and Articles 14 and 15(1) (equality and
non-discrimination).
In response to a PIL filed in 1991, the Kerala High Court had judged that the restriction of entry
of women ages 10-50 to the temple was in accordance with the usage prevalent from time
immemorial, and it directed the Devaswom Board to uphold the customary traditions of the
temple.12
However, on 28 September 2018, the Supreme Court of India overturned the restriction on the
entry of women, declaring it unconstitutional and discriminatory. 13 The Supreme Court had ruled
that women, of all age groups, can enter Sabarimala temple in Kerala. The apex court in a 4:1
majority said that the temple practice violates the rights of Hindu women and that banning entry
of women to shrine is gender discrimination. On 2 January 2019, two women under the age of 50
finally entered the shrine for the first time since the Supreme Court verdict, after attempts by
many others failed due to protests by devotees.14

11
Shri Swami Sivananda, The Meaning of Brahamcharya, Practice of Brahamcharya (1997),
http://www.dlshq.org/download/brahmacharya.htm#_Toc441556960.
12
S. Mahendran v. The Secretary, Travancore, AIR 1993 Ker 42.
13
Young Lawyers Association & Ors. v State of Kerala & Ors., SC (2018).
14
Aparajita Balaji, Indian Young Lawyers Association & Ors. v. The State of Kerala & Ors., Law Times Journal
(Mar 24, 2019),http://lawtimesjournal.in/indian-young-lawyers-association-ors-vs-the-state-of-kerala-ors/.

12
3. ANALYSIS

The judgement of case propounded through 4:1 ratio, held that the exclusion of women from the
Sabarimala shrine is unconstitutional and the section 3(b) of the Kerala Hindu Places of Worship
(Authorization of Entry) Act 1965 is unconstitutional. The section states as follows: “The classes
of persons mentioned here under shall not be entitled to offer worship in any place of public
worship or bath in or use of water of any sacred tank, well, spring or water course appurtenant to
a place of public worship whether situated within or outside precincts thereof, or any sacred
place including a hill or hill lock, or a road, street or pathways which is requisite of obtaining
access to place of public worship. Women at such time during which they are not by custom and
usage allowed to enter a place of public worship”
This rule is hit by Article 15(1) and Article 25(1) of Constitution of India as it discriminates
against women on the basis of their sex only. This kind of discrimination on the basis of sex
violates the fundamentals of Constitution.15
The four founding principles of the Constitution namely liberty, equality, fraternity and justice
are expressly stated in the Preamble of the Constitution describing it as the basic features of the
same.
Speaking of equality in the context of the present issue, it has importance both in terms of status
and opportunity. Article 15 reads as:
“Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth:
• The state shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex,
place of birth or any of them.”

15
K Satchidanandan, Sabarimala is more an issue of gender equality than of religious-freedom, News Click, (Nov.2,
2018) https://www.newsclick.in/sabarimala-more-issue-gender-equality-religious-freedom.

13
Equality should be made available to all persons irrespective of caste, sex and other
discriminatory grounds. The exclusion of women from the shrine on the basis of sex is against
the morality of the people and these grounds were challenged in the court of law for appropriate
judgment.
The above-mentioned exclusion is also violative of the liberties encompassed to the citizens in
the form of belief, faith and worship. Article 21 of the Indian Constitution elaborates the
meaning of liberty as mentioned in the Preamble. It is read as:
“Protection of life and personal liberty- No person shall be deprived of his life and personal
liberty except according to the procedure established by the law”. Every human being should
have personal liberty meaning liberty to faith, belief and worship.
This exclusion is also violative of the article 25 of the Indian Constitution as this article protects
the equal entitlement of all persons to a freedom of conscience and to freely profess, protect and
propagate religion. By this the Constitution exactly means that every individual in society
without distinction or discrimination of any type is entitled to the rights laid down, by placing
each individual on even platform.
The excluded women claim that barring them access to inner sanctum of the shrine violated their
fundamental right under Article 25(1) to freely practice their religion. Moreover, restricting the
entry of women into the place of worship is considered as one of the ways of imposing
patriarchy. These kinds of restrictions are often based on patriarchy and not religion.
Secularism is the basic feature of the constitution. The state treats equally all religions and
religious denominations. Secular activities can be regulated by the state by enacting a law.16
Secularism represents faith born out of rational faculties and it enables to see the imperative
requirements for human progress in all aspect.17
The devotees of Lord Ayyappa claim themselves to have a religious denomination under article
26 of Indian Constitution and on this perspective claim to have certain rules and regulations of
their own. Article 26 of Indian constitution reads as follows:
“Freedom to manage religious affairs subject to public order, morality and health, every religious
denomination or any section thereof shall have the right
• To establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes;
• To manage its own affairs in matters of religion;
16
Dr. J. N. Pandey, Constitutional Law of India, 371 (54th edn. 2017).
17
Santosh Kumar v. Secy. Ministry of Human Resources Development, AIR 1995 SC 293.

14
• To own and acquire movable and immovable property; and
• To administer such property in accordance with law.
The claim forecasted by the devotees is incorrect as the Ayyappans cannot be called as a
religious denomination as it does not fulfill the criterion. The fundamental right of Article 26 is
not granted to individuals but to religious denominations or sections thereof. These
denominations are to be determined on the basis of persons having common faith, a common
organization, and designated by a distinct name as a section thereof. Believers of a particular
religion are to be distinguished from the denominational worshippers. But the devotees of the
Sabarimala temple do not classify to the above mentioned philosophies and the tests does not
show any findings of the denominational status as people from all backgrounds worship Lord
Ayyapan, be it Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Hence Sabarimala is not a denominational
temple and hence Article 26 does not comply.

This usage and custom is also a manifestation of untouchability and hence, violative of Article
17 of the Constitution. Untouchability is not defined as such and the social exclusions mentioned
herein is refers to the social exclusion based on the notions of “purity and pollution”. This
acknowledgement is the inalienable dignity of every individual as facet of Article 21 of the
Constitution.18

The caste system has been empowered by specific forms of subjugation of women. The notion of
“purity and pollution” mentioned here stigmatizes the menstruation of women in Indian society.
In some ancient religious texts and customs, menstruating women have been considered as
polluting the environment. But in some recent and modern religion as like Sikhism have more
pragmatic views on menstruation making clear that no ritualistic impurity is involved. Even Sri
Guru Granth Sahib deems menstruation as a natural process which is free from impurity and
essential for procreation

Irrespective of the status of women, menstruation has been compared to impurity and this idea of
impurity is further used to justify the social exclusion of women. Regarding women as polluting
or impure is against the dignity of the women guaranteed by the Constitution under Article 21.

18
Anusha Maurya, Astha Bhatt, Critical Analysis Of Dissenting Opinion in Sabarimala Temple Case, The Law
Brigade (Publishing) Group, http://thelawbrigade.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Anusha-Astha.pdf.

15
These menstrual taboos limit the ability of women to achieve the freedom of movement, right to
entry places of worship and even the right to education.19

Some of the contentions in the hearing also urged that the presiding deity that is Lord Ayyappa,
is the bearer of constitutional rights under Part III of the Constitution. It was contended that the
right to preserve the celibacy of the deity is protected in the Articles 25(1) and 26 of the
Constitution and held as a fundamental right of the deity. It was also said that any alteration in
the practice will have adverse effect on the fundamental rights. The right with deity to preserve
the celibacy of the deity is protected by constitutional rights and extends to excluding women
from entering and praying in the temple. The law recognizes an idol or deity as a juristic person
which can own property and can sue and be sued in the court. It was basically held in Pramatha
Nath Mullick v. Pradyuman Kumar Mullick, 20 which dealt with the nature and services due to the
idol. It was held that a Hindu idol is, according to long established authority, founded upon
religious customs of Hindus, and the recognition thereof by courts of law, a “juristic entity”. It
has a judicial status with the power of suing and being sued.21

In Yogendra Nath Naskar v. Commissioner of income-tax, 22 Calcutta, symbolized the deity and
idol as a legal person. This does not mean that the deity has all necessary rights. Merely, because
deity has been granted limited and original rights as a juristic person under statutory law does not
mean that the deity necessarily has constitutional rights. The rights guaranteed under part III of
the constitution are geared towards the recognition of the individual as a basic unit. The deity is
just a legal fiction which cannot be led to the gamut of fundamental rights. 23 All these rights get
formulated to give morality to the issue and help women in attaining basic fundamental rights
with due honour and respect.

19
Sowmya Sivakumar, Sabarimala: ‘Diety’s Will’Cannot Trump the Constitution on Right to Equality, The Wire
(Jul.30, 2018, 7:30 AM) https://thewire.in/law/sabarimala-is-temple-entry-a-destination.
20
(1925) 27 BOMLR 1064.
21
Tanishk Goyal, Naman Agarwala, Sabarimala Verdict: Deconstructing the dissenting judgment, one year later,
Bar & Bench (Sep 27, 2019), https://www.barandbench.com/columns/sabarimala-verdict-deconstructing-the-
dissenting-judgment-one-year-later.
22
1969 AIR 1089.
23
Navni Sisodia, The dissenting opinion in the Sabarimala judgment using the feminist perspective, Legal Service
India, http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-1391-the-dissenting-opinion-in-the-sabarimala-judgment-
using-the-feminist-perspective.html.

16
5. CONCLUSION

The lack of concrete jurisprudence regulating the relationship between religion and the law has
created an intractable lacuna in the social and legal ethos of India. Although the Supreme Court,
through various opinions has helped curb this uncertainty, the ambiguity with respect to the
interference of the courts with religion may not be easy to circumvent.

The social exclusion of women from entering the Sabarimala shrine is violative of several
dimensions. This violates gender equality and discriminates mostly on the basis of sex. Just by
exclaiming that Lord Ayyappa belonged to Brahamcharya cult does not mean that this will
hamper the rights of women. There are thousands of Ayyapan temples where women are not
denied entry, then why in this temple only?

Another argument to this question is the existence of other bramacharya gods and their temples
all over India. For example- Lord Hanuman was also a Brahamchari but entry is not denied to
women in the temples of Hanuman.

Liberty in matters of belief, faith and worship, must produce a compassionate and passionate and
humane society marked by the equality of status among all its citizens. The freedom to believe,
to be a person of faith to be a human being in prayer has to be fulfilled in the context of a society
which does not discriminate between its citizens. Combined together, individual liberty, equality
and fraternity among citizens is indispensable to a social and political ordering in which the
dignity of the individual is realized.

17
Mankind since the time immemorial has been searching for the justification for a point of view
that hurts humanity. Basically, the theoretical human values always remain on paper and from
the time immemorial the status of women is the same as before and treated with inequality and
other dogmatic notions of biological and physiological factors affecting their lives adversely. It is
always seen that women are treated unequal on the path of approach to understand the divinity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books
1. Dr. J. N. Pandey, Constitutional Law of India, 371 (54th edn. 2017). ……………..11
2. Radhika Sekar, The Process of Pilgrimage: The Ayyappa Cultus and Sabarimala Yatra
12-14 (1988)………………………………………………………………………….7

Online Materials
 United Nations Development Project, Human Development Report, Gender Inequality
Index (2017), http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/GII......................................................3
 Satya Prasoon, The Sabarimala Case has the Potential to be a constitutional watershed,
The Wire (Nov.7, 2016), https://thewire.in/law/sabrimala-temple-case-constitutional-
watershed........................................................................................................................3
 Ankitesh Ojha, #Sabarimala dissent from the dissent of Justice Indu Malhotra: New
Boundaries for Article 14?, The Leaflet (Oct.22, 2018), https://theleaflet.in/sabarimala-
dissent-from-the-dissent-of-justice-indu-malhotranew-boundaries-for-article-
14/....................................................................................................................................4
 George Augustine, Sabarimala: A debate between modernity and age-old practices,
Hindu Human Right(Jan.28, 2016), http://www.hinduhumanrights.info/sabarimala-the-
18
debate-between-modernity-and-age-
oldpractices/.....................................................................................................................7
 Richa Taneja, The Story Of Sabarimala: Origin, Beliefs And Controversy Over Women
Entry, NDTV (Oct. 17, 2018), https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/the-story-of-
sabarimala-origin-beliefs-and-controversy-on-women-entry-1933477. .........................7
 Tanishk Goyal, Naman Agarwala, Sabarimala Verdict: Deconstructing the dissenting
judgment, one year later, Bar & Bench (Sep 27, 2019),
https://www.barandbench.com/columns/sabarimala-verdict-deconstructing-the-
dissenting judgment-one-year-later.................................................................................13
 Navni Sisodia, The dissenting opinion in the Sabarimala judgment using the feminist
perspective, Legal Service India, http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-1391-
the-dissenting-opinion-in-the-sabarimala-judgment-using-the-feminist-perspective.html.
.......................................................................................................................................13
 Anusha Maurya, Astha Bhatt, Critical Analysis Of Dissenting Opinion in Sabarimala
Temple Case, The Law Brigade (Publishing) Group, (2019) .......................................12
 Aparajita Balaji, Indian Young Lawyers Association & Ors. vs The State of Kerala &
Ors., Law Times Journal (Mar 24, 2019),http://lawtimesjournal.in/indian-young-
lawyers-association-ors-vs-the-state-of-kerala-ors/. …………………………………..9
 Sandhya Jain, Sabarimala justice downsizes divinity, The Pioneer (Oct. 16, 2018),
https://www.dailypioneer.com/2018/columnists/sabarimala--justice-downsizes-
divinity.html....................................................................................................................8
 Shri Swami Sivananda, The Meaning of Brahamcharya, Practice of Brahamcharya
(1997), http://www.dlshq.org/download/brahmacharya.htm#_Toc441556960.............10
 K Satchidanandan, Sabarimala is more an issue of gender equality than of religious
freedom, News Click, (Nov.2, 2018) https://www.newsclick.in/sabarimala-more-issue-
gender-equality-religious-freedom..................................................................................10
 Sowmya Sivakumar, Sabarimala: ‘Diety’s Will’Cannot Trump the Constitution on
Right to Equality, The Wire (Jul.30, 2018, 7:30 AM) https://thewire.in/law/sabarimala-
is-temple-entry-a-destination. .......................................................................................12

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