SC should uphold PLACES OF WORSHIP ACT, 1991 and save the secular fabric of our Nation

GB Sivanandam

On December 12, 2024 the Supreme Court of India (SC) issued a ruling on the Places of Worship Act 1991:

• The SC barred civil courts from registering new suits or passing orders in pending cases related to the Act
• The SC directed trial courts to not pass any orders or surveys against existing religions structures
• The SC gave the Union government four weeks to file a response to the petitions challenging the Act

The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for February 17, 2025.

The Places of Worship Act of 1991 was enacted to preserve the religious character of places of worship as they were on August 15, 1947 the day of Independence.  The Act prohibits courts from entertaining disputes over the character of these sites, with the exception of the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya.

The outcome of the current proceedings could impact ongoing legal battles involving religions properties, including the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, the Shahi Eidgah Mosque in Mathura and the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal.

The Chief Justice made it clear that the bar on civil suits would include any orders to survey the premises of religious places.  There are currently 18 suits concerning 10 religious shrines in various civil courts.

Any tinkering with the existing Act will have disastrous results as proved on November 24^th, 2024 when 4 lives were lost in Sambhal following a local court order to survey the Shahi Jama Masjid.  The civil judge had passed an order on the basis of a suit that the mosque was built on a temple demolished by Mughal emperor Babar in 1526. 

A civil court in Rajasthan has admitted a petition claiming that the Ajmer dargah was originally a Sankat Mochan Mandir.

Proceedings like the above continue to haunt the country which is already under the siege of religious polarization proliferated and propagated quite nefariously by the ruling regime for political gains.  At a time when archaeological departments dig and discover ancient civilizations to study about them, the Hindutva proponents choose to bring down places of worship of minority religions, which are many centuries old to prove and establish that they were built on places which were temples once upon a time. 

On October 28^th 2020, Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a former spokesperson of the Delhi Unit of the BJP filed a petition, in the SC, challenging the constitutional validity of certain sections of the Places of Worship Act 1991 and it is on this petition that the next hearing will be held on 17 February, 2025.

By keeping such misadventures live, the fanatics in the ruling party aim at Hindu consolidation which is the only religious agenda that could camouflage all other relevant social and economic problems the country is facing.

It would not be out of place to mention here that on behalf of the CPI(M), Prakash Karat, Coordinator and member of the Polit Bureau, has filed an intervening application in the Supreme Court of India in the writ petition challenging the validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act,1991.  The application seeks to dismiss the writ petition on grounds of secularism, equality and freedom of religion. The Supreme Court should uphold the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act,1991 and save the secular fabric of our Nation.

We, as responsible citizens of India, should identify the forces that are set out to disturb the secular fabric of our country, understand their ulterior motives to gain political mileage by religious polarization, and the ruling party’s failure in economic development, job creation, containing price rise, etc.  When even neighbouring countries like SriLanka are moving forward we tend to prioritise communal issues which will take us many decades backwards.