The Supreme Court Thursday asked courts across the country not to entertain or pass orders in any new suits or pleas for survey of mosques to find out whether temple lies under it. The court also restrained lower courts from passing orders in suits pending against such disputes, freezing surveys until further directions.
The court heard pleas challenging the Places of Worship Act, 1991, and issued these orders. This Act had been enacted to regulate the religious character of all places of worship existing at the time of Independence except that, as to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, it has since been settled.
However, Petitioners claim that the Act trampled in the individual rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs by disallowing them to reclaim the worship places destroyed in historic invasions. They say the law blocks judicial recourse for recovering historically or religiously significant sites.
The Supreme Court bench observed that it is examining the vires, contours, and ambit of the 1991 Act and would take note of ‘its vires, contours and ambit’ in ongoing hearings.
It comes a day after petitions across India called for archaeological surveys of mosques for the claims that Hindu temples are buried underneath. In the case of the Sambhal mosque, petitioners contended that the Teely Wali Masjid sits atop the ruins of a Lord Shiva temple. Just as controversies have arisen regarding Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi and Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura.
The Supreme Court’s move is seen by legal experts as trying to stop further litigation that might fan the flames of communal tensions. By freezing these cases the court is able to consider the constitutional questions surrounding the Act while examining it without fresh surveys.
And the court’s ultimate decision could reshape the resolution of disputes over religious sites in ways that aim to reconcile historical grievances with the Act’s aim of promoting communal harmony and status quo. The next hearing remains the focus of everyone’s eyes.
