Today, On 9th April, The Centre told the Supreme Court it supports keeping the ban on women of menstruating age entering Kerala’s Sabarimala temple, arguing the 2018 ruling relied on a premise that places men above women and treats them as inferior.
The Kerala High Court Today (Dec 12) termed as “very very serious” the “VIP darshan” provided to actor Dileep at the Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala recently and said that it resulted in pilgrims being “virtually blocked” from getting darshan of the deity for several minutes. A bench of Justices Anil K Narendra and Muralee Krishna S said it was “not a question of two minutes” when the first two rows in front of the ‘Sopanam’ were “choked” for several minutes to allow the actor to get darshan.
The Kerala High Court criticized the Travancore Devaswom Board and state police for granting VIP treatment to actor Dileep during his visit to Sabarimala, questioning the privileges he received at the expense of other devotees. The court directed measures for equitable access to darshan for all, especially vulnerable individuals, during the festival.
The Kerala High Court Today (Oct 8) ordered the State’s Travancore Devaswom Board to take action against private entities found illegally charging Lord Ayappa devotees visiting Sabarimala temple for the ‘pottukuthal’ (applying Vibhuthi, Sindoor, or Chandanam) ritual. Bench made it clear that the Court would not tolerate any such instance of Sabarimala pilgrims being exploited.