A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday, 14 November, referred the review petitions seeking a ban on entry of all women in Sabarimala temple to a larger seven-judge bench by 3:2 majority.
The top court, by a majority verdict of 4:1, on September 28, 2018, had lifted the ban that prevented women and girls between the age of 10 and 50 from entering the famous Ayyappa shrine in Kerala and held that the centuries-old Hindu religious practice was illegal and unconstitutional.