MC Explains | The Places of Worship Act and the challenges against it

The Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court is likely to hear the writ petitions challenging the Constitutional validity of the Places of Worship Act (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, in the second week of January.

On November 14, 2022, the Supreme Court had asked the Union Government to clarify its stand on the legislation by filing an affidavit.

Moneycontrol explains what’s the Act, what are the challenges against it, and what you need to watch out for:

What is the Places of Worship Act? 

In 1991, the Union Government enacted the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act. The preamble of the Act notes that it was enacted 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 August 15, 1947.

In essence, the Act bars conversion of any place of worship of any religious denomination or any section into a place of worship of a different section of the same religious denomination or of a different religious denomination.

According to the Act, the religious character of a place of worship existing on August 15, 1947 will continue to be the same as it existed on that day. The Act bars initiation of legal proceedings questioning the character of a place of worship.

Since the legislation was enacted at the peak of the Ram Janma Bhoomi dispute, the Act does not apply to the Ram Janma Bhoomi-Babri Masjid site situated in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. Any person found to be violating the provisions of the Act could be imprisoned for up to three years, in addition to having to paying a fine.

Gyanvapi mosque dispute and the Places of Worship Act 

The debate surrounding this controversial law resurfaced again recently in the Gyanvapi mosque dispute.

In August 2021, five women filed a suit in a Varanasi court seeking its order to perform all rituals of Maa Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesha, Lord Hanuman and other deities, which they claim exist inside the Gyanvapi mosque site. The court had appointed an Advocate Commissioner to survey the disputed Gyanvapi site and submit his report.

The Allahabad High Court refused to set aside the order of the Varanasi Court, which subsequently led to the mosque committee appealing in the Supreme Court. The main contention of the mosque committee is that the Places of Worship Act prohibits initiation of legal proceeding for conversion of the religious character of any place of worship, as in effect on August 15, 1947. The case is pending before the Supreme Court.

Recently, a court in Mathura has ordered the survey of the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah site in response to a plea by Hindu Sena.

Challenges to the constitutional validity of the Act 

Politician Subramanian Swamy filed a writ petition challenging the Act in July 2020. He has clarified that he has not asked for the setting aside of the Act in his petition, but only seeks to keep the Gyanvapi and Krishna Janmabhoomi sites out of the purview of the Places of Worship Act, 1991.

Separately, a petition by lawyer and politician Ashwini Upadhyay challenges the constitutional validity of some sections of the Places of Worship Act. His petition contends that the Act’s bar on initiation of legal proceedings is unconstitutional. He contends that the right to initiate proceedings is a basic structure of the Constitution and cannot be done away with.

According to Upadhyay’s petition, the Act also violates the principle of secularism which is a basic feature of the Constitution. Upadhyay’s petition further contends that August 15, 1947 as a cut-off date affects Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists.

According to the Supreme Court’s website, Swamy’s and Upadhyay’s cases are likely to come up for hearing on January 9, 2023. Issues for deliberation by the court are expected to be circulated on the date of hearing.