NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed two Parsi sisters to participate in the last rites of their father in case of the eventuality of his death despite their marriage to non-Parsis, but said it would examine the issue of whether they can pray as Parsis in the fire temple next month.“Death has an immediacy, a paramountcy,” a five-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said. The court had at the last hearing of the case prevailed upon a Mumbai Parsi trust to allow the two sisters to take part in their father’s last rites. “This is a question of emotional attachment, sentiments,” the CJI had said.The trust, represented by senior advocates Gopal Subramanium and Percy Gandhi, agreed on Thursday in deference to the court’s wishes. However, Subramanium said that he could not assure such a concession to secure their right to pray.“This is after all a community whose numbers are fast diminishing,” he said. The CJI indicated that the other issues involving the sisters such as their right to pray and be part of the community would be examined and adjudicated in the third week of January. Two of the three siblings had married non-Parsis.One of them had moved court to secure their right to be present and take part in their father’s last rites and ceremonies after the Gujarat High Court had ruled against her. The high court had ruled that the woman would be deemed converted to the religion of her husband, irrespective of whether she chose to convert, and lose her status as a Parsi.The fact that she had married under the Special Marriages Act, the voluntary uniform civil code in India, had made the case a national attraction. Many multi-faith marriage couples had moved the court against it too.Prima facie, the bench led by the CJI, had at the first hearing of the case rejected the traditional merger theory under which the identity of a woman merged with that of a man after her marriage. Both have separate identities under the law and cannot be treated as a single identity, the court had said.