New Delhi, Nov. 18 -- The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking access for civilians to offer prayers inside a mosque located within a military area in Chennai, observing that the ability to practise one's religion is not intrinsically tied to any single place of worship. A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said that the petitioner could not insist on entry into a restricted defence zone simply because a mosque existed there, stressing that security considerations within military premises must ultimately rest with the armed forces. "Can just one place be said to be connected to the practice of religion?" the bench asked during the hearing. "You have so many options available and that is what the high court has also said." Senior advocate MR Shamshad, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the Masjid-E-Aalishaan had historically been accessible to civilians and that the right to offer namaz there did not disappear merely because it was situated inside army land. "This is a mosque and I have a right to pray there. There may be many other mosques too. But why should I have no right to pray here?" submitted Shamshad, adding that the mosque had been freely accessible between 1877 and 2002 and that no security issue had ever been raised during that period....