Supreme Court admits petition for lifting ban on Muslim women’s entry into mosques 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, admitted a petition filed by a Pune- based couple seeking the lifting of the ban on entry of Muslim women into mosques across the country. It issued notice to the government and various other bodies including the National Commission for Women.

Although, a bench of Justice SA Bobde and Justice S Abdul Nazeer remarked orally that the only reason they are looking into the matter is the court’s judgment in lifting the age-old ban on women of menstrual age, between 10 and 50 years, entering the famed Sabarimala temple in Kerala.

Justice Bobde observed that the fundamental right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution was available only against the state and said, “Is a mosque a ‘state’? Is a church a ‘state’? Is a temple a ‘state’? We are not talking about the cement and mortar that make mosques but the people in them. Can the fundamental right of equality be imposed on another human being?”

The couple alleged that the ban was illegal, unconstitutional and a violation of their dignity and their petition said, “There should not be any gender discrimination and Muslim women should be allowed to pray in all mosques, cutting across denominations. There is no such gender discrimination to offer worship in Mecca, the holy city. The faithful, both men and women, together circle the Kaaba.”

The petition also argued that such a bar on Muslim women was “violative of Article 44 of the Constitution of India, which encourages the State to secure a Uniform Civil Code for all citizens, by eliminating discrepancies between various personal laws currently in force in the country”.

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