Balancing faith, dignity and constitutional rights, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• In September 2018, the Supreme Court allowed women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, sparking protests.
• Review petitions seeking to overturn the 2018 verdict will be heard by the Supreme Court.
• The original ruling had a 4:1 majority, with a dissenting opinion from Justice Indu Malhotra.
• The court ruled that the ban on women violated their right to freedom of religion.

Detailed Insights:

• The core issue revolves around balancing freedom of religion with individual dignity and constitutional rights.
• The Supreme Court has historically used an "essential religious practices test" to determine justifiable state intervention in religious matters.
• Justice Chandrachud proposed an "anti-exclusion test," prioritizing individual dignity and access to basic goods over religious practices that exclude.
• The "anti-exclusion test" assesses whether a practice's consequences align with constitutional guarantees of equal treatment.
• The upcoming hearings could impact various religious controversies, including excommunication within the Dawoodi Bohra community and the rights of Parsi women.
• The Constitution recognizes both individual religious freedom and the rights of religious denominations, subject to public order, morality, and health.
• The "anti-exclusion test" seeks to ensure that religious autonomy does not lead to systematic exclusion from spaces integral to a life of dignity.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Essential Religious Practices: A test used by courts to determine if a religious practice is essential to a religion and deserving of protection.
• Anti-Exclusion Test: A proposed legal standard that prioritizes individual dignity and equal access over religious practices that exclude.
• Freedom of Religion: The constitutional right to practice one's faith, subject to public order, morality, health, and other fundamental rights.

Essential Religious Practices