NEW DELHI, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Supreme Court of India, the apex court, on Thursday referred the case related to the women's entry into a temple, located in southern state of Kerala, to a larger bench of seven judges.
This means the women's entry into the temple is not barred.
In its September 2018 verdict, the Supreme Court had lifted the age-old ban on entry of women aged between 10 and 50 years into the Sabarimala temple.
Today's stance of the apex court of referring the case to a larger bench meant that women's entry was allowed into the temple.
The Sabarimala temple will open on the evening of Nov. 16 for the two month-long pilgrimage season, "Mandalam Makaravilakku."
Media reports quoted Kerala's Police Chief Loknath Behera as saying that there will be tight security during this time. Over 10,000 police personnel will be deployed in phases in and around the temple in order to avoid any untoward incident.
In the last pilgrimage season, many women tried to forcibly enter the temple but their attempts were abandoned by a large number of protesters.
