New Delhi: The trust controlling a Parsi fire temple in Gujarat gave an undertaking to the Supreme Court on Thursday that it would allow women married into other communities to enter the shrine for worship, funerals and other religious services.

The Anjuman Parsi Trust in Valsad gave the undertaking to a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra through its counsel, senior advocate Gopal Subramanium.

The court, however, said it would examine the larger constitutional issue of whether restricting Parsi women's entry into the fire temples of Zoroastrians violated their fundamental rights under Article 14 (equality) and 21 (life and personal liberty).

The bench, which also has Justices A.K. Sikri, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y. Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, listed the matter for further hearing to January 17, when it is expected to examine the validity of a Gujarat High Court judgment that a Parsi woman married under the Special Marriages Act will lose her religious identity if she marries outside her community.

The apex court is dealing with a petition filed in 2013 by a Parsi woman, Goolrokh M. Gupta, who married a Hindu man, challenging the practice of the Anjuman Parsi Trust in Valsad to debar women from the community from entering the fire temple if they married into another community.

Although Goolrokh's parents are alive and in their 80s, she had moved Gujarat High Court challenging the rule that does not allow women to enter the temple even to perform funereal services.

After the high court ruled in favour of the trust, Goolrokh approached the Supreme Court.