Justice Indu Malhotra, only woman judge in the five-judge bench, dissents against majority verdict which said devotion can’t be subjected to gender discrimination

In a landmark verdict, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, on Friday (September 28), struck down the centuries-old patriarchal tradition of banning the entry of women to Kerala’s iconic Sabarimala temple.

Interestingly, the only dissenting opinion against opening the doors of the Sabarimala temple to women came from the sole woman judge on the bench – Justice Indu Malhotra. The other four members of the bench, Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud gave concurring judgments that, in a nutshell, held that “devotion cannot be subjected to gender discrimination”.

—India Legal Bureau