Women's rights & religion: CJI-led 9-J bench includes all faiths, and a woman

NEW DELHI: Inspired by the thumb rule that "justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done", CJI Surya Kant has constituted a nine-judge bench, including judges from all faiths, and a woman, to decide the validity of contentious socio-religious norms that denote the centuries-old tussle of women's rights versus faith.

Since the socio-religious issues relate to the alleged circumscribing of rights of women to enter religious places, the CJI-led bench would include Justice B V Nagarathna, the lone woman judge in SC who would become first woman CJI next year, Justice M M Sundresh, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, a Muslim, Justice Augustine G Masih, a Christian, Justice Prasanna B Varala, a Dalit and a ghazal enthusiast, Justice R Mahadevan, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Aravind Kumar.

The nine-judge bench will commence hearing from April 7 on the contentious socio-legal-religious conflict between faith and fundamental rights that was triggered by its Sept 2018 judgment allowing entry of women of all ages into Sabarimala temple, which has customarily barred entry of females of menstruating age.

The judgment had invited a series of petitions seeking its review and activated cries for similar rulings on PILs which had sought entry of women into mosques, abolition of the practice of khatna (female genital mutilation or FGN) among Dawoodi Bohra community members, and pleas for entry of Parsi women, who have married non-Parsis, into Agiyari (fire temple). The Centre has lent its support to the review petitions. SC’s 2018 judgment had struck down the Sabarimala shrine’s tradition of not permitting the entry of female worshippers in the 10-50 age group, a faith-based belief that the presiding deity Ayyappa is a “naishtik brahmachari”.

CJI Kant is the only judge still in service, from the nine-judge bench led by then CJI S A Bobde which first heard the matter in 2020. That nine-judge bench comprised CJI Bobde, and Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan, L Nageswara Rao, M M Shantanagoudar, S Abdul Nazeer, R Subhash Reddy, B R Gavai and Kant.

On Nov 14, 2019, a five-judge bench led by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi, by a three-to-two majority, had not disturbed the Sept 28 judgment allowing the entry of women of all ages but referred to a seven-judge bench the task of evolving guidelines for deciding cases involving clash of fundamental rights and faith emerging from women’s entry to temples, mosques and agiyaris. CJI Bobde used his discretionary powers to refer the matter to a 9-J bench.

The SC had said individual issues — entry of women into Sabarimala, mosques and agiyaris as well as FGM — would be decided by smaller benches based on the guidelines laid down by the nine-judge bench.