New Delhi: The chief priest of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple, whose tradition of barring entry of menstruating women was abolished in 2018, said on Friday Supreme Court As Dhananjay Mohapatra reports, the rights and wrongs of the methods of idol worship that are central to Hinduism are juridically indeterminate when rituals are specific to each deity’s manifestation. Appearing for ‘Thantri’, senior advocate V Giri told a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices BV Nagarathna, MM Sundaresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Arvind Kumar, AG Masih, PB Varale, R Mahadevan and J Bagchi that a person who challenges a particular worship, ritual or custom of a deity is not a worshiper and, therefore, the courts have no jurisdiction to challenge any ritual. His petition should not be considered unless it is against public order and morality. Or health. He said, “Every Hindu deity has its own characteristics. The rituals and ceremonies followed in a temple will either be unique or at least specific to temples that fall in the same category. Rituals are always linked to the concept of the deity.” Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan said the state’s right to make laws to eliminate social evils and bring about reforms cannot be extended to reform any religion, faith or belief.