The Gyanvapi Mosque Management Committee has filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking to uphold the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
The Act prohibits altering the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947, and aims to preserve the secular fabric of the nation.
The committee’s petition seeks to intervene in ongoing legal challenges to the Act, asserting its constitutional validity. Other petitioners, including the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, have also emphasized the importance of retaining the Act in its entirety, arguing that it is crucial for maintaining communal harmony.
A Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, was scheduled to hear multiple petitions on Thursday, including those questioning specific provisions of the Act. However, the hearing has been postponed, with a new date yet to be announced.
The Act, enacted in 1991, has been at the center of intense legal and political debates. It mandates that the religious character of places of worship remains as it was at the time of independence, barring exceptions like the Ayodhya dispute, which was already under judicial consideration at the time.
This development comes amidst heightened scrutiny of historical religious disputes, with some groups seeking changes to the status of certain places of worship. The Gyanvapi Mosque case itself has been a focal point of contention, with calls for the restoration of its purported Hindu temple origins being hotly debated.
The Supreme Court’s eventual decision on the validity of the Places of Worship Act will have far-reaching implications for religious harmony and legal interpretations of historical disputes in India.
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