Apex court throws out plea to allow women

to enter mosques for prayers

Monday's Supreme Court rejected a petition by Akhil Bharatha Hindu Mahasabha's state
president of the Kerala unit to allow Muslim women to enter mosques to offer prayers and
shed the "purdah" system.

A Bench headed by India's Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi declined to entertain Swamy
Dethathreya Sai Swaroop Nath's plea for rejection of his petition by the Kerala High Court.

"The segregation and discrimination against Muslim women by not enabling them and their
masculine counterparts to enter and pray in masjids in the primary prayer room is against
Articles 21 and 14 of the Constitution," the petition said.

Any rigid adherence to previous centuries ' preaching and teaching was "equal to rigorous
adherence to the size and type of clothing worn even during adulthood during adolescence.
That's stubbornness," he said.