TOPIC OF THE DAY:-“An ongoing quest for equality”
The Supreme Court Will Soon Have The Opportunity To Consider The Differing Opinions In The Sabarimala Verdict
the Supreme Court delivered a 4:1 verdict, in Indian Young Lawyers Association v. State of Kerala, throwing open the doors of the Sabarimala temple to women of all ages. At stake were several thorny questions. How deep must the judiciary’s inquiry go in deciding whether to intervene in matters of religion? Should the court disturb ethical choices made by a community of believers? How must the integrity behind these practices be judged? Are religious exercises susceptible to conventional constitutional standards of justice and equality?As the four opinions delivered by the court show us, these questions are open to diverse interpretations. While the majority agreed that women of all ages should be allowed to freely access the Sabarimala temple, each of the court’s judgments, including Justice Indu Malhotra’s dissenting opinion, speaks to a different, and constitutionally plausible, vision. How the court chooses to take forward the ideas professed here will prove hugely telling. Will judges continue to don ecclesiastical robes in testing what manners of religious practices deserve constitutional protection? Or will the court steer itself towards a more radical, yet constitutionally consistent, path, by predicating its analysis on equal concern, by breaking, as Justice D.Y. Chandrachud wrote in his concurring opinion, the “shackles of social hierarchies”?
MEANING AND WORD
1) thorny
Meaning : having many thorns or thorn bushes.
Synonyms : prickly , spiky
Antonyms : dull
Example : “tangled thorny branches”
2) intervene
Meaning : take part in something so as to prevent or alter a result or course of events.
Synonyms : intercede , interfere
Antonyms : combine
Example : “he acted outside his authority when he intervened in the dispute”
3) integrity
Meaning : the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.
Synonyms : honesty , rectitude
Antonyms : deceit
Example : “a gentleman of complete integrity”
4) susceptible
Meaning : likely or liable to be influenced or harmed by a particular thing.
Synonyms : affected , liable
Antonyms : unlikely
Example : “patients with liver disease may be susceptible to infection”
5) interpretations
Meaning : the action of explaining the meaning of something.
Synonyms : analysis , judgment
Antonyms : complication
Example : “the interpretation of data”
6) dissenting
Meaning : hold or express opinions that are at variance with those commonly or officially held.
Synonyms : demur , differ
Antonyms : accept
Example : “two members dissented from the majority”
7) plausible
Meaning : (of an argument or statement) seeming reasonable or probable.
Synonyms : credible , possible
Antonyms : improbable
Example : “a plausible explanation”
8) professed
Meaning : (of a quality, feeling, or belief) claimed openly but often falsely.
Synonyms : stated , announced
Antonyms : undeclared
Example : “for all her professed populism, she was seen as remote from ordinary people”
9) don
Meaning : a university teacher, especially a senior member of a college at Oxford or Cambridge.
Synonyms : wear
Antonyms : disrobe
Example :
10) ecclesiastical
Meaning : relating to the Christian Church or its clergy.
Synonyms : clerical , sectarian
Antonyms : temporal
Example : “the ecclesiastical hierarchy”
