Wait for final SC verdict on Sabarimala: Khushbu

“We will have to abide by what the Supreme Court said. They have referred the case to a seven-judge bench. We will have to wait for the final verdict,” she said.

“We have to think and not rush into it. It is a belief for hundreds of years and it can’t be denied. But at the same time, when one is looking at the progressive world, the rights cannot be denied as well,” she added. A sea of devotees thronged the Sabarimala temple on Saturday, as the shrine opened for the annual Mandala Pooja. The opening of the shrine comes days after a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had referred a clutch of petitions seeking review of its order which paved the way for the entry of women into Sabarimala temple in Kerala to a larger seven-judge bench by a majority 3:2 ruling.

The top court also observed that the right to worship by an individual cannot outweigh the rights of a religious group.

The Supreme Court had lifted a traditional ban on entry of women of menstrual age (10-50 years) on September 28 last year.

Despite the apex court’s ruling, a string of protests took place at the Sabarimala temple and its surrounding areas in the state, when several women attempted to visit the shrine but were stopped by Lord Ayyappan devotees.