The Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed Hindutva outfit Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha’s petition seeking entry of Muslim women into mosques, the Hindustan Times reported.

Chief Justice Rishikesh Roy and Justice AK Jayakrishnan Nambiar rejected the plea, saying the petitioner had failed to produce evidence to back his claim that Muslim women were being denied entry to mosques. The outfit’s Kerala President Swamy Dethathreya Sai Swaroop Nath filed the petition.

Nath cited the Supreme Court order in September allowing women of all ages entry into the Sabarimala Temple and urged the court to direct the Centre to issue an order allowing Muslim women to offer prayers in mosques, PTI reported. He said Muslim women were being discriminated against and were being forced to wear veils, which he claimed segregates and degrades them.

The court said the Sabarimala verdict was not applicable to the petition and added that Muslim women can move the court if they feel they are facing discrimination.

Meanwhile, a Muslim reformist forum based in North Kerala, Nisa, said it would move the Supreme Court demanding women be allowed to offer prayers in all mosques and become imams. Nisa President VP Zuhra, who was one of the petitioners in the triple talaq case, said her organisation would move the top court next week.

“I have been to Mecca where men and women worship together,” Zuhra told the Hindustan Times. “In Islamic texts women were given equal rights and positions. When the Prophet had no problem with women worshipping at mosques, why are women being denied this right?”