Massive Thursday in Supreme Court: Verdicts on Sabarimala, Rafale reviews

Thursday is set to witness a series of important verdicts in Supreme Court. First, a 5-member Constitution bench of Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Nariman, Justice Khanwilkar, Justice Chandrachud and Justice Malhotra will prounce its verdict on a batch of petitions seeking review of SC’s order lifting ban on entry of women between 10 and 50 years at Sabarimala temple in Kerala at 10.30 am. This will be followed by its decision on a contempt petition against Rahul Gandhi and a review petition of SC’s verdict on purchase of  Rafale jets.  

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Sabarimala case 

SC’s verdict in Sabarimala case h sparked off huge protests across Kerala. Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) which mans shrine, argued that SC could t interfere with a century-old belief. ban on entry of women has been justified on grounds that Lord Ayyappa, presiding deity is celibate. On or hand, government of Kerala supported verdict maintaining that religious practices that clashed with fundamental rights could be set aside. Constitution bench h reserved its verdict on February 5 after hearing arguments from various parties.

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Contempt petition against Rahul Gandhi 

BJP Member of Parliament Meenakshi Lekhi h accused former Congress president Rahul Gandhi of misquoting an order of SC. Rahul Gandhi h said that apex court h accepted that ‘chowkidar’ is a ‘chor’. In run-up to 2019 Lok Sabha elections, ‘Chowkidar chor hai’ was often used by Gandhi to imply that Prime Minister Narendra Modi h committed wrongdoing with reference to  Rafale deal. After SC issued a contempt tice against Gandhi, latter tendered an apology seeking closure of proceedings. However, Lekhi urged for initiating action against former Congress president as apology was t ‘unconditional’. 

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Rafale verdict review 

On December 14, 2018, apex court h dismissed petitions demanding a court-monitored probe into intergovernmental deal between India and France to purchase Rafale jets from Dassault Aviation. But some petitioners including Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie, and Prashant Bhushan moved SC seeking a review of this order, following an apparent error in a sealed document filed by Centre at Supreme Court that contended that CAG report on deal h been submitted to Parliament whereas it actually wasn't. SC bench, led by Chief Justice Gogoi reserved its verdict in May earlier this year. 

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