The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that a woman’s right to pray is equal to that of a man as enshrined in the Constitution and forming a law cannot negate that. The apex court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the ban on entry of women in Kerala’s Sabarimala temple on grounds of biological factors.

“On what basis you (temple authorities) deny the entry. It is against the Constitutional mandate. Once you open it for the public, anybody can go,” Chief Justice Dipak Misra said.

He said that if the temple has allowed men to enter, then it must allow women to enter too. “There is no concept of a private temple. If there is a temple then it is a public place and everyone is allowed to go there. If men can go there then women can also go,” he said during the hearing.

The CJI also opposed the Kerala government’s assertion that ceremonial rules pertaining to temples and method of worship are set by the temple and are protected under the right to worship, saying that a “temple cannot claim denominational rights.”

“Your right to worship as a woman at par with a man is not dependent on a legislation. It’s there in the Constitution. It’s there in article 25(1). Law facilitates equal right of worship by everyone,” he said.

Justice DY Chandrachud, who was part of the five-judge constitutional bench that was hearing the case, further said, “Every woman is also the creation of God and why should there be discrimination against them in employment or worship.”

The Supreme Court had in October last year formed the constitution bench to hear the case and it will decide four significant questions, primary among which is whether the ban amounts to discrimination against women.

The constitution bench also includes Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman, AM Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra.

The petitioner – the Indian Young Lawyers Association – has challenged the 800-year-old practice of prohibiting the entry of women into the famed Lord Ayyappan Temple.

The PIL has sought direction to the Kerala government, the Travancore Devaswom Board, Chief Thanthri (priest) of Sabarimala Temple and the District Magistrate of Pathanamthitta to ensure entry of female devotees between the age group of 10-50.

Appearing for the petitioner, counsel Ravi Prakash Gupta told the court the restrictions on the entry of women in Sabarimala temple is not the essence of their religious affairs as discrimination on the entry of women in the temple is “neither a ritual nor a ceremony associated with Hindu religion”.

Gupta said: “Mere sight of a woman does not affect anybody’s celibacy, if one has take oath of it, otherwise such oath has no meaning.”

A “feminist” Canada is investing nearly $2 billion Canadian dollars (about Rs 10,000 crores) as seed capital in businesses led by its women entrepreneurs, said a senior woman minister here.

“As Canada is committed to encouraging women to grow businesses, we have allocated nearly $2 billion in the fiscal 2018-19 budget for investing in businesses run by women entrepreneurs,” Canadian Small Business Minister Bardish Chagger told IANS in an interview here.

The Canadian government, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has also a women’s entrepreneurship strategy in the budget to assist women-led ventures to grow and help their nation prosper.

Though born and raised in Canada, Chagger, 38, is of Indian origin, as her parents are Indians, who migrated from Punjab in the 1970s and settled here.

The first woman leader of the government in the Canadian House of Commons as a Member of Parliament (MP) from Waterloo in Ontario, Chagger also holds the tourism portfolio since 2016.

Echoing Trudeau’s viewpoint that Canada cannot tap its potential full if half of its 36-million population was left behind, Chagger said her government was focused on investing in the people, especially refugees and immigrants who came from the world over for a better life in this country, bordering the US in the North.

“We are a feminist government that practices gender balance to empower all our people and gives them equal opportunities to grow,” said Chagger, a keynote speaker at the three-day Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN), organized by the American computer maker Dell Technologies here since Sunday.

As only 16 percent of Canadian businesses are owned or run by women, the Trudeau government is working on doubling it to 32 percent by 2025.

The Canadian government is focused equally on women to build a stronger economy without discriminating them as immigrants or refugees, said Chagger.

Referring to her Indian origins, Chagger said her Indian grandfather would not have imagined migrating to this country and his grand-daughter getting elected to become a Cabinet minister.

“But Canada stands for providing equal opportunities for everyone regardless of their origin and regions,” she said.

With more diversity under Trudeau’s leadership, lawmakers’ decisions ensure that voices of women, immigrants and other minorities are heard, she said.

“Unless one is indigenous, almost everyone is an immigrant in Canada. We have elected people on the Cabinet who came to Canada as refugees, those served in armed forces, etc. Canada has been a welcoming country and will continue to be for migrants from the world over,” Chagger said.

The Liberal Party’s Cabinet, touted as the “most diverse” globally, has Indian-origin Harjit Sajjan, the first Sikh to become Canada’s Defence Minister, and Carla Qualtrough, a former Paralympic athlete, as Minister of Public Services.

The 30-member Trudeau Cabinet has an equal number of men and women in it.

With 1.3-million (13 lakh) people of Indian origin, Canada is also looking for stronger ties with India, especially in trade and tourism.

“We have established links in February between Communitech, a hub for technology firms in Waterloo region, and the T-hub at Hyderabad in Telangana, to foster technology businesses in both regions. We are looking for more such opportunities in both countries,” Chagger said.

Canadian Parliament in Ottawa recognized Punjabi as the third most-spoken language, after English and French, said Chagger.

Canada is also investing in developing skills of people for the growth of its economy.

“We are working on lowering taxes on the middle class, which is the backbone of our economy. We want to give benefits to those who need them most and are asking the wealthy to forego them,” added Chagger.