New Delhi, April 7 A woman cannot be treated as "untouchable" for three days in a month and then cease to be considered untouchable on the fourth day, Supreme Court judge B.V. Nagarathna remarked on Tuesday.
The remark came while a nine-judge bench was hearing petitions related to discrimination against women at religious places, including the Sabarimala temple of Kerala, and on the scope and extent of religious freedom practiced by multiple faiths.
The constitution bench comprised Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices B.V. Nagarathna, M.M. Sundresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, Augustine George Masih, Prasanna B. Varale, R. Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, submitted that he had strong objections to an observation in the 2018 Sabarimala judgment that the exclusion of women in the age group of 10-50 years from the temple was a form of 'untouchability', violating Article 17 of the Constitution.
In the Sabarimala case, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was of the opinion that the exclusion of women, based on age or menstrual status, from entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala is a form of "untouchability" which places them in a "subordinate" position, perpetuates "patriarchy" and is "demeaning to their dignity."
Mehta said, "India is not that patriarchal or gender-stereotyped in the way that the West understands."
Justice Nagarathna then said, "In the context of Sabarimala, Article 17, I don't know how it can be argued. Speaking as a woman, there can't be a three-day untouchability every month, and on the fourth day, there is no untouchability."
Mehta stated that he was not on the issue of menstruation.
He said the ban on women's entry into the Sabarimala temple was not related to menstruation, and said the restriction was only based on age group.
"Let us be clear. Sabarimala concerns only a particular age group. There should be no confusion. Lord Ayyappa temples across the country and the world are open to women of all ages. It is only one temple which has this restriction. It is a sui generis case," he said.
The hearing is currently underway.
In September 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench, by a 4:1 majority verdict, had lifted the ban that prevented women between the ages of 10 and 50 from entering the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple and held that the centuries-old Hindu religious practice was illegal and unconstitutional.
On November 14, 2019, another five-judge bench headed by the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi, by a majority of 3:2, referred the issue of discrimination against women at various places of worship to a larger bench.
The bench had then framed broad issues on freedom across religions, saying they cannot be decided without any facts of the particular case.