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| Sabarimala temple: India's top court revokes ban on women | Sabarimala temple: India's top court revokes ban on women |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| India's Supreme Court has said women can no longer be barred from entering the Sabarimala temple, considered to be one of the holiest for Hindus. | India's Supreme Court has said women can no longer be barred from entering the Sabarimala temple, considered to be one of the holiest for Hindus. |
| The temple in Kerala barred women of a "menstruating age" - that is between the ages of 10 and 50 - from entering. | The temple in Kerala barred women of a "menstruating age" - that is between the ages of 10 and 50 - from entering. |
| Menstruating women are not allowed to participate in religious rituals or enter temples, as they are considered "unclean" in Hinduism. | Menstruating women are not allowed to participate in religious rituals or enter temples, as they are considered "unclean" in Hinduism. |
| The ruling came after a petition argued the custom violated gender equality. | The ruling came after a petition argued the custom violated gender equality. |
| While reading out the judgment, Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that "religion is for one dignity and identity," adding that "the right to practice religion is available to both men and women". | While reading out the judgment, Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that "religion is for one dignity and identity," adding that "the right to practice religion is available to both men and women". |
| The impending retirement of Justice Misra has seen a flurry of historic rulings from the court in recent days, including the striking down of colonial-era laws that criminalised adultery and gay sex. | |
| He will retire on Tuesday. | |
| The state government of Kerala had opposed the entry of women when the case was first taken up in 2016. However it changed its stance in a recent hearing to support the petitioners instead. | |
| At a hearing in July, petitioners argued that this custom violated equality guaranteed under India's constitution. They added that it was prejudiced against women and their right to worship. | |
| But supporters of the ban argued that the practice had been in effect for centuries, and there was no need to change it now. | |
| The campaign to repeal the ban on women entering the temple gathered momentum in 2016 after a protest by female students. | |
| One of the protesters started a #HappyToBleed campaign on Facebook against "sexist attitudes" which received support from different parts of the country. | |
| Nikita Azad, who started the campaign, told the BBC then that there was no "right time" to go into a temple and that women should have the right to go "wherever they want to and whenever they want to". | |
| This is the third religious place where women have got the right to enter through judicial intervention. Courts directed authorities of the Hindu temple Shani Shingapur and the Muslim Haji Ali shrine, both in the western state of Maharashtra, to allow women inside. |