The petitioner said those who had approached the Supreme Court for lifting the age restriction on women are not devotees of Lord Ayyappa. In her petition, Vijayan said the Supreme Court verdict affects the fundamental rights of millions of devotees of Lord Ayyappa,the temple’s chief deity.
Days after a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court upheld the right of women of all ages to worship at the Sabarimala temple, a review petition was filed on Monday in the Supreme Court saying that the September 28 judgment is “absolutely untenable and irrational, if not perverse”.
The plea was filed by Shylaja Vijayan, president of National Ayyappa Devotees Association.
After the Kerala government made it clear that it won’t make an appeal against the apex court order, protests over the entry of women in Sabarimala have gathered pace.
Earlier, the representatives of Pandalam Palace and Sabarimala temple priests refused to attend the meeting called by Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday to discuss the Supreme Court’s verdict.
Devotees of Lord Ayyappa protested in Chennai on Sunday, demanding the retaining of the age-old tradition of the hill shrine. A rally ‘Ayyappa Nama Japa Yatra’ was also held on Sunday at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar by Lord Ayyappa devotees.
“The petitioners believe that no legal luminary, not even the greatest of jurists or a judge, can be a match to the common sense and wisdom of the masses. No judicial pronouncement, even of the highest judicial tribunal in this country… can be a match for ‘the voice of the people’,” the petition read
