After 16 days of marathon hearing, a nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict in the Sabarimala reference case on seven larger legal questions on the scope and ambit of religious freedom in India.The Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant asked the parties to submit their written submissions by May 29.The Bench – which included Justice BV Nagarathna, Justice MM Jattvibedresh, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Justice Aravind Kumar, Justice Augustine George Masih, Justice Prasanna B Varale, Justice R Mahadevan and Justice Joymalya Bagchi – is also examining the ambit of religious freedom practised by various faiths, including the Dawoodi Bohra community.The top court reserved its verdict after hearing arguments made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior advocates CS Vaidyanathan, AM Singhvi, Mukul Rohatgi, Indira Jaising, NK Kaul, Gopal Sankaranarayanan and several others.On May 7, the Bench had said if individuals started questioning certain religious practices or matters of religion before a constitutional court, there will be hundreds of petitions questioning different rituals, leading to the breaking of religions and civilisation.Justice Nagarathna had said what sets India apart from any other region was that “we are a civilisation” despite having so many pluralities and diversities.“One of the constants in our Indian society is the relationship of human beings — man, woman and child — with religion. Now, how a religious practice or a matter of religion is questioned… where it is questioned… whether it can be questioned… whether it has to be a question within a denomination for a reform or whether the state will have to do or you want the court to adjudicate upon all these aspects… This is troubling us.”“What we lay down is for a civilisation that is India… India must progress despite all its economy, everything there is constant in us. We can’t break that constant. That is what is troubling us,” Justice Nagarathna had said.By a 4:1 verdict, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by the then CJI Dipak Misra had on September 28, 2018 allowed entry women, irrespective of their age, into the Lord Ayyappa’s temple at Sabarimala, overturning the age-old tradition that restricted the entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 years.Justice Indu Malhotra, the lone woman judge on the Bench had delivered a dissenting verdict and supported the practice.While delivering its verdict on petitions seeking review of the 2018 verdict, the Supreme Court on November 14, 2019, enlarged the scope of the case and referred to a seven-judge Bench seven issues of discriminatory practices in various religions. All these issues are now being examined by the nine-judge Constitution Bench.