Former SC judge cautions against suits on conversion of mosques into temples

Cautioning that suits seeking to convert mosques and dargahs into temples were creating communal disharmony, former Supreme Court Judge RF Nariman has called for the enforcement of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, to prevent such attempts.

The former Judge said, “Like hydra-heads popping up all over the country, one suit after another is being filed all over the place, not only concerning mosques, but also dargahs.” “The only way of counter this is to apply the judgment in Ayodhya case, which had upheld the Act,” Justice Nariman said last evening.

He made these remarks while delivering the inaugural lecture of the Ahmadi Foundation on ‘Secularism and the Indian Constitution’. The former Judge further said, “Special CBI Judge Surendra Yadav — who acquitted all accused in the Ayodhya demolition case in 2020 — got a post-retirement job as Deputy Lokayukta in UP. This is the state of affairs in this country,” he said.

He termed the SC’s 2019 Ayodhya verdict a travesty of justice. “However, five pages affirming the Places of Worship Act-1991 were a silver lining,” he said.