India, April 8 -- There are two aspects of note in the Centre's submission to the Supreme Court, which has set up a nine-judge bench to hear pleas asking for a review of a landmark 2018 verdict that allowed women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala. One, the Centre has argued that questions of who may enter a place of worship are not facets of gender discrimination but are rooted in religious practice, belief and the specific character of the deity. The submissions caution the bench against adopting standards of review that assess religious practices on grounds such as "rationality," "modernity," or "scientific defensibility". The fact is many discriminatory practices - notoriously those related to caste bias and untoucha...