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Tagging a woman’s right toenter the famous Sabarima-la temple with her men-strual cycle is unreasonable,the Supreme Court’s Consti-tution Bench observed onWednesday.

The Bench, led by ChiefJustice of India Dipak Misra,asked whether the exclusionof women aged between 10and 50 from entering a tem-ple because they are consi-dered ‘impure’ amounts tothe practice of untouchabili-ty, a social evil abolished bylaw.

The CJI said there is noconcept of “private mandirs(temples).” Once a temple isopened, everybody can goand off��er prayers. Nobodycan be excluded. The ChiefJustice noted that the Saba-rimala temple drew funds

from the ConsolidatedFund, had people comingfrom all over the world andthus, qualifi��ed to be called a“public place of worship.”

A batch of petitions haschallenged the prohibitionon women of a certain agegroup from entering the Sa-barimala temple.

Sabarimala templebar unreasonable: SC ‘Why tag entry with menstruation?’Krishnadas RajagopalNEW DELHI

The Sabarimala temple is apublic place of worship, theSupreme Court noted.

‘NOBODY HAS AN EXCLUSIONARYRIGHT OF ENTRY’ A PAGE 7