As Justice Chandrachud observed in Sabarimala, “practices which are destructive of liberty and those which make some persons unequal before the divine must be tested against the anvil of constitutional morality” 6 min read Apr 30, 2026 07:54 PM IST First published on: Apr 30, 2026 at 07:54 PM IST When the Supreme Court’s nine-judge Constitution Bench recently resumed hearing the Sabarimala review, Kantaru Rajeevaru v Indian Young Lawyers’ Association , it inherited not just a dispute about a temple in Kerala, but a 70-year-old judicial doctrine that has grown, in the view of many scholars, well beyond the modest purpose for which it was designed. That doctrine is the Essential Religious Practices (ERP) test. The debate now before the Court is one of genuine constitutional complexity, and the arguments on both sides deserve careful attention. The ERP doctrine was born in Commissioner, Hindu Religious Endowments, Madras v Sri Lakshmindra Thirtha Swamiar of Shirur Mutt (1954).…