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Sabarimala Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Ayyappan situated at Sabarimala in Pathanamthitta District, Kerala, India. In the past, women devotees of menstruating age were not permitted worship here, this ban being said to be out of respect to the celibate nature of the deity in this temple. A Kerala high-court judgement had legalized this interpretation, and forbade women from entering the temple since 1991. In September 2018, a judgement of the Supreme Court of India ruled that all pilgrims regardless of gender, including women in the menstruating age group, should be allowed entrance to Sabarimala. The Constitution bench of the Supreme Court held that any exception placed on women because of biological differences violates the Constitution - that the ban violates the right to equality under Article 14, and freedom of religion under Article 25. This verdict led to protests by people who oppose the verdict. Several women attempted to enter Sabarimala despite threats of physical assault against them but failed to reach the sanctum sanctorum. Two women belonging to the previously barred age group finally entered the temple on 2 January 2019, following which the temple was closed and reopened after "purification" rituals.