The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the right of Kerala's Sabarimala Temple to ban the entry of post-pubescent women into its premises. The court said the temple cannot enforce the rule unless it has the constitutional right to do so, reported PTI. It was hearing a ten-year-old petition filed by the Young Lawyers Association.

The court questioned the legality of placing restrictions based on gender, age and caste in a temple for the public. "Is there any proof that women did not enter the Sabarimala shrine 1,500 years ago?" the court said.

Women are currently not permitted to enter the temple after attaining puberty. They can only enter after menopause. In November last year, the president of the Travancore Devaswom Board that manages the temple had said that women will not be permitted to enter unless a machine is invented to check their purity. His remark had sparked outrage on social networking sites, and a #HappyToBleed campaign was launched.