LAST WEEK, a nine-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant heard arguments over three days on questions that have been building up since 2006, when the Indian Young Lawyers Association filed a public interest litigation that eventually led to the 2018 Sabarimala judgment, including the present reference.
Though this bench is not directly examining the 2018 judgement, it is addressing larger issues referred to it in February 2020. How much freedom do religious communities have to run their own affairs? How much can the State interfere? And when someone challenges a religious practice in court, what exactly is the court allowed to decide?
As the Court prepares to hear the Respondents this week, we review what the Union government and Review Petitioners argued last week, specifically on the issue of how Articles 25 and 26 inter-operate in the schema of fundamental rights.
