: Places of Worship Act put to test as Gyanvapi case goes to SC #IndiaNEWS #Immigration By Sumit SaxenaNew Delhi, May 21 | The three-page legislation The Places of Worship Act, 1991 is at the centre

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Places of Worship Act put to test as Gyanvapi case goes to SC #IndiaNEWS #Immigration
By Sumit SaxenaNew Delhi, May 21 | The three-page legislation The Places of Worship Act, 1991 is at the centre of the row over videographic survey carried out at the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, where a Shivling was purportedly discovered.
The law has been invoked by the Committee of Management, Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Varanasi, which manages the Gyanvapi mosque, before the Supreme Court, saying mischievous attempts were being made to change the character of the mosque, which existed for 500 years.
In the Ayodhya judgment, the Supreme Court had said that the Act is intrinsically related to the obligations of a secular state and it reflects the commitment of India to equality of all religions.
However, in the Gyanvapi mosque matter, the Act will be put to legal scrutiny and face a test, in view of the ethos of secularism.
A bench comprising Justices D. Y. Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and P. S. Narasimha observed that the survey of a structure to ascertain its religious nature is not barred under the Act.
The committee moved the top court under Order 7, Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code against the maintainability of the suit, filed by five Hindu women seeking enforcement of their right to worship Goddess Shringar Gauri and other deities inside the mosque.
The masjid committee has also questioned the appointment of a commissioner for the video survey of the mosque, as it was barred under the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, and pointed at the fallout of entertaining a suit in gross violation of the provisions of the 1991 Act.
The counsel representing the masjid committee argued in the apex court that similar mischief is being attempted in connection with four-five other mosques and objected to the trial court order to protect an area which had been used for the last 500 years by Muslims as wuzu khana (ablution pond).
The Places of Worship Act, 1991 had its own share of controversies. The then Union Home Minister, S. B. Chavan, while moving the Bill in the Lok Sabha had said that it is a measure to provide and develop our glorious traditions of love, peace and harmony.
However, the BJP, then main Opposition party, had opposed the Bill tooth and nail, and termed it as another attempt by the Congress government to appease the minorities.
The Central government notified the Act to forestall fresh claims by any community about the previous designation of any religious place of worship and also subsequent attempts to regain land, on which they stood.
The Places of Worship Act, 1991 begins by saying, An Act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August, 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

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