All posts tagged: Sabarimala

AI at Sabarimala: Kerala temple to get drones, predictive systems to manage crowd in pilgrimage season | India News

AI at Sabarimala: Kerala temple to get drones, predictive systems to manage crowd in pilgrimage season | India News

Published by Parlour News

3 min readThiruvanananthapuramJun 22, 2026 07:19 AM IST The upcoming annual pilgrimage to the Sabarimala temple in Kerala could see the use of AI-based crowd management systems. The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages the temple, and officers of the Kerala Police held a meeting with an expert committee on Saturday in this regard, officials said. The pilgrimage season at the hill shrine will begin in the second week of November. Last year, the shrine, situated in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district, witnessed a footfall of 51 lakh devotees. Representatives of three AI firms from Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai briefed the expert committee, as well as senior TDB functionaries and police officers, about the proposal. Pathanamthitta district police superintendent R Anand, who was tasked with preparing a report on the project, said AI technology would be used in Sabarimala in a phased manner for effective crowd management, coordination between various departments, and the safety of pilgrims. ‘Tailor made’ “AI-enabled crowd management has been effectively used in the Maha Kumbh Mela and other festivals with large gatherings. Sabarimala …

Nine-judge SC bench reserves verdict in Sabarimala reference

Nine-judge SC bench reserves verdict in Sabarimala reference

Published by Parlour News

A nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the continued centrality of the “essential religious practices” (ERP) doctrine in adjudicating faith-based disputes, observing during the concluding hearing in the Sabarimala reference that the test could become “elitist” by privileging some religious practices over others. During the concluding hearing on Thursday, amicus curiae senior advocate K Parameshwar criticised the ERP doctrine for effectively ranking religious practices. (HT Photo) The observation came as the constitution bench, after 16 days of marathon hearings spread over several weeks, reserved judgment in the long-pending reference arising out of the 2018 Sabarimala verdict that had allowed entry of women of all ages into the hill shrine in Kerala. The proceedings before the bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant evolved into one of the widest constitutional debates on religious freedom in recent years, touching upon the scope of judicial review in matters of faith, the meaning of religious denominations, the balance between equality and autonomy, and the continued validity of the ERP doctrine. Apart from the …

Supreme Court on Sabarimala: Need to ensure social reform conforms to ‘lakshman rekha’, doesn’t hollow out religion | Legal News

Supreme Court on Sabarimala: Need to ensure social reform conforms to ‘lakshman rekha’, doesn’t hollow out religion | Legal News

Published by Parlour News

Underlining the need to ensure that social reform measures conform to the “lakshman rekha” set by the legislature and do not hollow out a religion, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said courts may be compelled to interfere if any such reform is thrust upon people against their wish. “If the people of this country, through their elected representatives, raise a common voice that this issue requires social reform, probably the court will accept it as a social reform. But if it is against the wish and will of the people — something is thrust upon them or, as a rule of gagging them, maybe the court will interfere,” Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, presiding over a nine-judge bench, said. The bench also comprising Justices B V Nagarathna, M M  Sundresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, Augustine George Masih, Prasanna B Varale, R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi, is considering questions arising from petitions seeking review of the SC’s September 28, 2018, judgment striking down age restrictions on entry of women to the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. …

Sabarimala women entry case: Were you the ‘Chief Minister’; what was your ‘business’, Supreme Court asks lawyers’ body

Sabarimala women entry case: Were you the ‘Chief Minister’; what was your ‘business’, Supreme Court asks lawyers’ body

Published by Parlour News

A view of the Sabarimala Temple. The Supreme Court on Tuesday (May 5, 2026) asked what was the “business” of the NGO, Indian Young Lawyers Association, to question the prohibition of women of menstruating age from entering the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple. At one point, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, heading the nine-judge Bench hearing the Sabarimala review petitions, asked “were you the Chief Minister of the country?” Published – May 05, 2026 02:05 pm IST Disclaimer: We do not own any of the content, ideas, images, or text presented here. All rights belong to their respective owners. For more information and to view the original source, please visit the following link: Source link

Sabarimala Temple row: Government of India supports temple restrictions

Sabarimala Temple row: Government of India supports temple restrictions

Published by Webster

The Centre on Thursday backed the restriction on the entry of women of menstruating age into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple, saying that the top court’s 2018 judgement proceeds on the assumption that men are superior and women are on a lower pedestal.  A nine-judge Constitution bench is hearing petitions related to discrimination against women at religious places, including the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, and on the ambit and scope of religious freedom practised by multiple faiths. The top court said that everybody must have access to all temples. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever Disclaimer: We do not own any of the content, ideas, images, or text presented here. All rights belong to their respective owners. For more information and to view the original source, please visit the following link: Source …

Kerala HC extends time for VACB to complete probe in Sabarimala ghee sale scam| India News

Kerala HC extends time for VACB to complete probe in Sabarimala ghee sale scam| India News

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Kochi, The Kerala High Court has given the vigilance bureau 30 days more to conclude its probe into the alleged misappropriation of funds by TDB employees in relation to the sale of ‘Adiya Sishtam Ghee’ a sacred offering sold to devotees at the Lord Ayyappa shrine at Sabarimala. Kerala HC extends time for VACB to complete probe in Sabarimala ghee sale scam A bench of justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K V Jayakumar granted the additional time after the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau informed it that nine more Travancore Devaswom Board staff are suspected of being involved in the scam and their roles have to investigated. The Bureau had initially registered an FIR against 33 people in connection with the alleged misappropriation of funds from sale of the ‘ghee’. The VACB also told the court that careless and improper maintenance of records by the TDB has significantly hampered the progress of the investigation, making it difficult to complete the same within the stipulated time. Taking note of the submissions by the probe agency, the court …

SC hearing on Sabarimala women entry LIVE: 'Constitutional morality' can't be a ground to exercise judicial review: Solicitor General

SC hearing on Sabarimala women entry LIVE: 'Constitutional morality' can't be a ground to exercise judicial review: Solicitor General

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The nine-bench hearing on discrimination at religious places of worship, is witnessing arguments on superstition, denomination, marriage, and when courts can intervene in these matters Disclaimer: We do not own any of the content, ideas, images, or text presented here. All rights belong to their respective owners. For more information and to view the original source, please visit the following link: Source link

SC casts doubt on using ‘untouchability’ to test Sabarimala entry ban| India News

SC casts doubt on using ‘untouchability’ to test Sabarimala entry ban| India News

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated that the concept of “untouchability” may not be an appropriate ground to test the validity of restrictions on the entry of menstruating women into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple, with the nine-judge bench observing that Article 17 (prohibiting untouchability) cannot be stretched to cover a practice that operates for a limited period each month. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. (File Photo/PTI) “Untouchability has its own history in India and to get over that Article 17 was made a fundamental right. But Article 17 in the context of Sabarimala…we don’t know how it will be argued,” the bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, remarked during the hearing. In a pointed observation, Justice BV Nagarathna , the only woman judge on the current bench, added that there cannot be “three days of untouchability every month and on the fourth day no untouchability,” underscoring the difficulty in equating menstrual exclusion with the historically entrenched practice of caste-based untouchability. “Speaking as a woman, I can say there cannot be three days …

Supreme Court begins nine-judge bench hearing on Sabarimala review

Supreme Court begins nine-judge bench hearing on Sabarimala review

Published by Webster

The Supreme Court has commenced hearing in the long-pending Sabarimala temple entry review along with a batch of connected matters, which raise significant constitutional questions concerning the scope of religious freedom, the doctrine of essential religious practices and the limits of judicial intervention in matters of faith, reported ANI. The nine-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and comprising of Justices Joymalya Bagchi, B. V. Nagarathna, R. Mahadevan, M. M. Sundresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, A. G. Masih and Prasanna B. Varale, will examine issues including — the scope and ambit of the right to freedom of religion under Article 25; the interplay between individual rights under Article 25 and denominational rights under Article 26; whether Article 26 rights are subject to other provisions of Part III beyond public order, morality and health; the meaning and extent of “morality” under Articles 25 and 26, including whether it encompasses constitutional morality; the scope of judicial review over religious practices; the interpretation of the phrase “sections of Hindus” in Article 25(2)(b); and whether …

SC hearing on Sabarimala LIVE: Nine-judge Bench to hear pleas on religious discrimination against women

SC hearing on Sabarimala LIVE: Nine-judge Bench to hear pleas on religious discrimination against women

Published by Parlour News

Sabarimala review: A strict definition of ‘denomination’, ‘essential religious practices’ will compress plural and diverse Hinduism, Centre tells SC The Union government has told the Supreme Court that a straitjacket definition of what constitutes a ‘religious denomination’ or which religious practices are ‘essential’ would “compress” the inherently plural nature of Hinduism expressed through diverse sects, groups, spiritual lineages, regional traditions, faith, practices, rituals, customs and beliefs. The Centre has made its position clear ahead of the maiden hearing of a series writ and review petitions linked to the Sabarimala temple case scheduled to be heard by a nine-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant from April 7. The nine-judge Bench would also look into, in the backdrop of the Sabarimala case, the larger question of the extent to which constitutional courts could engage in core matters of faith.  The written submissions of the Union government, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, countered the September 2018 judgment of the Supreme Court which had held that devotees who visit the Sabarimala temple in Kerala …