Hearing the Sabarimala case regarding the women’s rights and equality in religious rights, the Supreme Court on Monday stated that it will decide if the review bench of the court has the jurisdiction to refer the case to a larger bench. After the senior counsels failed to arrive at a consensus, the apex court stated that it would frame legal questions to be adjudicated by a nine-judge bench over the discrimination against women.
The chief justice had stated that the questions to be dealt with in the cases will be purely legal in nature. The bench will comprise Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan, LN Rao, MM Shantanagoudar, SA Nazeer, RS Reddy, BR Gavai and Surya Kant. The bench shall now assemble on 6 February to fix dates, issues and allotment of time to the advocates. The court was also to check whether the essential religious practices of a religious denomination under Article 26.
