SC to wrap up all cases of gender discrimination at religious places within 10 days. Rudra 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

The Supreme Court has fixed a 10-day period to wrap up all cases related to discrimination against women at religious places. The apex court stated on January 28, 2020 that its nine-judge bench will finish hearing all the cases within 10 days.

The top court will soon take up all petitions filed in protest of discrimination against women in various religious places including a review petition against Supreme Court’s September 2018 Sabarimala Verdict, which allowed entry of all women, irrespective of their age, into the temple.

The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde clarified that the questions to be dealt with would be purely legal and it would not more time in concluding the hearing. The Chief Justice stated that it cannot take more than 10 days and even if someone wants more time, it cannot be given.  

The ruling was delivered by a bench comprising CJI S A Bobde and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the case before the bench. The Solicitor General had pointed out that despite holding a meeting of the lawyers, as mandated by the top court, common legal questions to be placed for consideration before the nine-judge bench were not finalized.

The Solicitor General suggested the court to consider framing the questions. The bench then asked Mehta to submit the issues dealt by lawyers during the meeting.

The Supreme Court had decided at the beginning of January 2020 to form a nine-judge bench to hear the petitions seeking a review of its previous judgement on Kerala’s Sabarimala temple. In a historic judgement on September 28, 2018, the apex court had allowed all women to enter the Sabarimala temple, irrespective of their age.

Besides this, the nine-judge bench will also take up other cases of gender discrimination at religious places including the restrictions that exist in the Muslim and Parsi community such as the ban on entry of Muslim women in mosques and dargah and ban on the entry of Parsi women married to non-Parsi men in their holy fireplace at Agiary.