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Sabarimala verdict review goes to 7-judge bench, women can enter for now

The Supreme Court, on Thursday, decided to refer the 65 review and writ petitions challenging the entry of women of all ages into Sabarimala temple in Kerala, to a larger, seven -judge bench.
A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi who demits office on Saturday, against its 2018 verdict, which overturned a centuries old tradition and allowed women of all ages to pray at Sabarimala. Hitherto, the place was off limits for women of menstruating age.
The review petitions have thus been kept pending and a larger bench to be constituted by the CJI-designate S A Bobde hear the entire case once again. Today’s was a 3:2 majority verdict with CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra ruling in favour of sending the petitions to a larger bench while Justices RF Nariman and DY Chandrachud dissented.
The verdict coming as it does just three days before the annual pilgrimage season begins in the temple of Lord Ayyappa nestled in the hills of the western ghats has sent the administration and the police in Kerala into a tizzy.
The BJP which opposed the entry of women into the temple said the since the apex court has sent the matter to a larger bench, the government should not utilise the opportunity to send women into the temple, as it did last year when under cover of darkness, the Marxist led government sent a couple of party sympathisers into the temple.
What followed was violence on an unprecedented scale across the state. The political fallout of the case hit the state Left Front government which was battered in the Lok Sabha elections in May this year. Taking no chances, the police have upped their vigil to deal with potential law and order situations. Police chief Loknath Behera said stringent action will be taken against those who take law into their own hands.
In the apex court, the CJI Gogoi said entry of women into places of worship is not limited to this temple, but many similar issues come into play as well, like the entry of Muslim women into mosques, the entry of Parsi women who married non-Parsis into the tower of silence, female genital mutilation in the Dawoodi Bohra community, and others. The court said that these too need to be referred to a higher bench.
Dissenting with the majority judgment, Justices RF Nariman and DY Chandrachud stood their ground and said the temple should be open for all, including women of all ages. They said the issue of entry of women into mosques and could be considered by 7-judge bench. “Endeavour of the petitioner is to revive the debate on what is an integral part of the religion. Both sections of the same religious group have the right to propagate practices of themselves. Faith perceived by one group is not the same as another,” the CJI said.
The 65 petitions considered by the SC included 55 review petitions and four writ petitions.
Timeline:
1991: the ban on the women’s entry into the temple was first challenged and the Kerala High Court upheld the ban.
2006: Indian Young Lawyers Association filed a petition in the SC, opposing the practice and seeking to lift the ban.
2007: The then LDF-led government told the court it favoured the entry of women into the temple. In 2016, the matter came up for hearing.
2017: The matter was referred to a three-judge constitution bench to note the arguments between the Kerala government and the TDB, which strongly opposed women’s entry.
July 2018: SC reserves the verdict after nine day.
September 28, 2018: In a historic judgment, the apex court lifted the ban on entry of women into the temple. In 4:1 verdict then Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Khanwilkar, Justices Chandrachud and Nariman ruled in favour of women’s entry, Justice Indu Malhotra was the lone dissenter in the verdict.
Read the full judgment below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iy8q0EfqCytLd9qL5ws_A22dwlfmPNeN
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Land for jobs scam case: Tejashwi Yadav moves Delhi High Court challenging CBI summons
The CBI has, till now, issued three notices to Tejashwi Yadav.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday moved the Delhi Court to challenge the summons issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning in the alleged land-for-jobs scam.
Tejashwi in a petition said notice can only be issued to a person, who is situated within the local jurisdiction of that police station or is within the adjoining police station.
The plea argued that even though he was a resident of Patna, he was being asked to appear for questioning in Delhi, which is in violation of Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The hearing in the matter is scheduled for today and will be heard before justice Dinesh Sharma.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader, via a petition, requested time from the CBI to appear before it after the end of the current Bihar Assembly session. He stated that it was his duty to attend the meeting as the recently appointed Deputy Chief Minister.
The CBI has, till now, issued three notices to the 33-year-old Yadav. The Bihar Deputy Chief Minister has sought the quashing of the summons.
Tejashwi Yadav requested that directions be given to the CBI so that they may have his advocate(s) present anytime he is questioned about the current FIR in accordance with the rules established by the Supreme Court of India.
Additionally, he requested that a directive be given, preferably in the form of mandamus, to revoke three summons issued by the CBI on February 28, 2023, March 4, 2023, and March 11, 2023, calling for his appearance before the CBI branch in New Delhi.
His family members, including parents and former Bihar Chief Ministers Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi, and his sister Misa Bharti are being investigated in the alleged land-for-jobs scam. The court granted them bail on Wednesday in this case.
The CBI asserts in its charge sheet that applicants who were hired as substitutes in the railways from 2004 to 2009 sold land to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family members, particularly wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti, at extremely discounted rates, sometimes a fourth or fifth of market rates
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Electric scooter explodes inside house in Karnataka’s Mandya district, fridge, TV damaged
Muthuraj said they tried to control the fire but their efforts went in vain. By then the fire had engulfed other household items.

In yet another shocking incident, an electric scooter exploded while it was being charged inside a house in Karnataka’s Mandya district on Monday, damaging several home appliances. A family of five was present in the house when the mishap occurred.
According to the reports, the incident happened in Valagerehalli village of Maddur taluk when the owner of the vehicle, Muthuraj, who bought the e-scooter for Rs 85,000 about six months ago, parked the vehicle inside the house for charging at around 8:30 am today.
Minutes after plugging in the e-scooter, the battery exploded and the e-scooter was covered in flames. Due to the mishap, several home appliances including a TV, fridge, two-three mobile phones, dining table, and other items were burnt and the glasses shattered.
All five members of the family were present at home at the time of the incident. Fortunately, they all had a narrow escape as they were not close to the e-scooter when the incident occurred.
Muthuraj said they tried to control the fire but their efforts went in vain. By then the fire had engulfed other household items.
This is not the first case when the e-scooter had caught fire. Earlier, an e-scooter exploded while it was being charged at home, killing a 7-year-old boy. As per reports, the deceased, identified as Shabbir, and his grandmother were sleeping in a hall at their home, where the electric scooter was plugged in for charging by his father.
While Shabbir’s grandmother suffered minor injuries, the boy suffered over 70 percent burns and was rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
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Massive fire erupts in Mumbai’s Oshiwara furniture market, over 100 shops damaged
Normal life was affected after thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the godown of a furniture market engulfed the area.

A massive fire broke out in the Oshiwara furniture market in Mumbai on Monday morning. A fire erupted in a furniture godown at the relief road in the city’s Jogeshwari west area, resulting in over 100 shops being gutted.
According to the reports, a fire was caused at a furniture godown at around 11 am. Ten fire engines and six jumbo tankers, along with an ambulance, ward-level officers and a police squad rushed to the spot to douse the fire. No casualties or injuries have been reported so far.
A video of the mishap is going viral on social media. Normal life was affected after thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the godown of a furniture market engulfed the area.
Read Also: Man kills father, chops up body over property dispute in UP’s Gorakhpur
Watch!
Reportedly, a total of three small lines of 12 motor pumps are in operation.
A firefighting operation is underway. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, however, the BMC Disaster Control team is investigating the matter.
Earlier, more than 100 shops were gutted in a massive fire in the wholesale market of the Bhagirath Palace area in Chandni Chowk. Five major buildings were also affected during the fire-fighting operations, out of which three collapsed.
The incident happened in the last week of November at around 9 pm. Soon after, 40 fire tenders were rushed to the spot to extinguish the fire.
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