Allow Cookies!
By using our website, you agree to the use of cookies
A review petition has been filed by the National Ayyappa Devotees (Women’s) Association before the SC, challenging its last month judgment wherein it had held, by a 4:1 majority, that the Sabarimala Temple’s practice of banning the entry of women between the ages of ten and fifty was unconstitutional. The petitioners have now claimed that the said judgment has sent a shock wave among millions of Ayyappa devotees and quoted the advice that they received from Advocate Mathews J. Nedumpara, who, they submitted, had the view that a judgment of the instant nature is a gross abuse of a procedure named “Public Interest Litigation”, which evolved in early 1980s with the aim to render justice to the poor, the illiterate and the ignorant, who on account of poverty, illiteracy and other disadvantages, are unable to invoke the jurisdiction of the SC under Article 32 and the HC under Article 226 of the Constitution.
Through the petition, the petitioners have pointed out that the petitioners in the original case were not devotees of Lord Ayyappa and hence, there arises no cause of action in existence for the invocation of the jurisdiction of the court.Apart from challenging the judgment on the jurisdictional aspect, the review petition also allegedthat a violation of the petitioners’ fundamental right, namely, liberty of thought, belief, expression, faith and worship, embodied in the preamble to the Constitution.
Furthermore, the petition demands that the review petition be entertained as an appeal in a way that the court allows re-appreciation of facts, evidence and law. It essentially asserts that the petitioners, i.e. the devotees of Lord Ayyappa, were not given a chance to be heard during the hearing of the case and hence, they must now be heard on all issues of fact and law. Explaining further they said that the millions of devotees whose fundamental right of belief and faith are infringed have had no opportunity in the adjudication of the said case. For them, the review can be treated as the first opportunity to plead, to assert their rights and seek enforcement thereof.
86540
103860
630
114
59824