CJI sets up Special Bench to hear petitions against Places of Worship Act

Ahead of the December 12 hearing, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna has constituted a Special three-judge Bench to hear petitions challenging the validity of the Places of Worship Act (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

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The Act prohibits conversion of any place of worship, except the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid at Ayodhya and freezes the religious character of a place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947.

Besides the CJI, the other two judges on the Bench are Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan.

There are six petitions, including those filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay and former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy, against certain provisions of the law. Some of the petitions have been pending since 2020.

The petitioners alleged that the 1991 law created an “arbitrary and irrational retrospective cut-off date” of August 15, 1947, for maintaining the character of the places of worship or pilgrimage against encroachment done by “fundamentalist-barbaric invaders and law-breakers”.

The top court had on January 9, 2023 sought responses of the Centre on pending pleas challenging certain provisions of the 1991 Act which took away the right of judicial remedy to reclaim a place of worship of any person or a religious group.

The hearing assumes significance in view of the fact that there are several mosques and dargahs which Hindu groups have sought to reclaim on the ground that they were built on pre-existing temples.

In an intervention application filed in the top court, the committee of management, Anjuman Intezamia Masajid, Varanasi has sought dismissal of all petitions against the 1991 Act on the ground that they were based on “rhetorical and communal claims” that could disrupt communal harmony and the rule of law.

The committee listed disputes concerning the Shahi Idgah Masjid at Mathura, Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, Qutub Minar,Delhi, Kamal Maula Mosque, Bhojshala Complex in Madhya Pradesh, Bija Mandal Mosque, Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, Teeley Wali Masjid, Lucknow, Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Rajasthan, Jama Masjid and dargah of Sufi saint Shaikh Salim Chishti at Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh, Baba Budangiri Dargah, Hosakaoti, Karnataka, Badruddin Shah Dargah, Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, Atala Masjid, Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, Pirana Dargah, Gujarat, Jama Masjid, Bhopal, Hazrat Shah Ali Dargah, Telangana and Ladle Mashak Dargah, Karnataka.

The committee said historical wrongs or perceived injustices of the past should not undermine the principles of secularism and non-retrogression upheld by the Act.

“That without lending much credence to the rhetorical claims made in the petition, the purported grievance of the petitioner as regards ancient rulers of the past cannot be addressed by this hon’ble court nor is a valid ground for challenging the constitutional validity of the 1991 Act,” the plea stated.

Cautioning against potential “drastic consequences” of overturning the law, the committee cited the recent incident at Sambhal where a survey order triggered widespread protests and resulted in six fatalities. It warned that repealing the Act could lead to a surge in disputes over religious sites across the country, prompting tensions in “every nook and corner” while threatening communal harmony.

The committee submitted that in the past few years, a number of claims have already been made with regard to14 Mosques/Dargahs claiming them to be ancient temples with “mischievous intent”.