The Travancore Devaswom Board on Tuesday cited the Islamic practice of barring women from entering mosques to justify the prohibition on women in the age group of 10 to 50 years from entering the famed Sabarimala temple in Kerala.

Calling it a "bonafide belief", senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipaak Misra that women were not allowed to enter mosques and cited other places of worship where women were barred from entering during their menstruating period.