Reportedly kerala chief minister pinarayi vijayan on thursday stated that his government has sought more clarity on the Supreme Court's decision to transfer the review petitions to a 7-judge bench. Until more clarity is provided on what aspect of the case will be reheard again, the CM told the media that the 2018 verdict of the sc allowing women to enter the temple will be upheld.
pinarayi vijayan said “Will the 7-judge Constitution bench only hear the legal points around gender equality in the sabarimala issue? Or will the whole case now be reheard by the bench? We need more clarity on this”. Furthermore he added that the new verdict had not reversed the earlier stance of the sc, which meant that the 2018 judgment which allowed women to enter sabarimala would remain and the 5-judge Constitution bench in a 3:2 majority judgment referred the sabarimala issue to a 7-judge bench and posed seven questions for the larger bench to answer.
Moreover the court said that matters which include interpretation of the Constitutional provisions that talk about the right to profess, practice and propagate religion should be heard by a larger bench. Perhaps when a stay was demanded on the 2018 verdict of the supreme court which allowed women to enter sabarimala, the court did not allow this and the new verdict maintains the status quo. Further the cm said that whatever stance the court took, the government had earlier decided to follow it.
