No review petition on Sabarimala verdict: Travancore Devaswom Board

Shortly after the Kerala government announced that it won't file a review petition challenging the Sabarimala Temple verdict, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) President A Padmakumar said that the Board, too, will not challenge the order.

Last week, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court had said that a woman has as much right to pray as their male counterpart, adding that the relationship with the Almighty should not be defined by any biological factors.

The order, which permitted women of any age to enter the Sabarimala temple, was questioned by the temple board, which had been relentlessly defending the age-old tradition of barring women between 10 and 50 from entering the temple.

The Sabarimala Temple located in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district is dedicated to the Hindu deity Ayyappan. The temple management considers the deity to be eternal celibate which made it impossible for women to enter the temple for decades.