The Supreme Court of India will hear review and writ petitions about the Sabarimala temple women entry verdict on February 16, 2026. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has scheduled the case for Monday. This follows a 2018 judgment that allowed women of menstruating age to enter the Kerala temple. In 2019, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi referred these petitions to a seven-judge Bench. Over 60 such petitions challenge the 2018 ruling. The 2019 judgment also combined similar cases about religious practices like Muslim women’s right to enter mosques and Parsi women’s access to their worship places. That judgment asked big questions to be answered by the seven-judge Bench: Which religious practices are essential? How much can courts interfere in them? After CJI Gogoi retired, his successor CJI Sharad Bobde formed a nine-judge Bench in January 2020 to study the 1954 Shirur Mutt case. This earlier ruling looked at what counts as "essential religious practices," saying it depends mainly on the religion's own rules. Justice Surya Kant, now the Chief Justice, was part of the nine-judge Bench. The upcoming hearing on February 16 will move this long-running debate forward in India’s highest court.