In a significant step, the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the filing of fresh lawsuits relating to all places of worship and directed courts not to entertain any fresh suit. The apex court also directed courts not to issue any interim or final order, including orders for survey, relating to any place of worship, till the validity of Places of Worship Act, 1991 is examined.
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Vishwanathan asked the Centre to file an affidavit on this issue within next four weeks. The matter will now be heard on February 17, 2025.
Lower courts can continue hearing in all pending cases but shall not pass any interim or final order, the apex court said. Though the Muslim petitioners had sought stay on 18 cases including those relating to Mathura Krishna Janmasthan, Dhar Bhojshala, Jaunpur Atala mosque and Ajmer Sharif dargah, the apex court in its omnibus stay, put a freeze on all orders relating to all places of worship.
Jamiatul Ulama-e-Hind chief Maulana Arshad Madani welcomed the SC order and expressed hope that the Centre, in its affidavit, would defend the Places of Worship Act passed by Parliament in 1991. Islamic scholar Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangimahali said, this order of Supreme Court will strengthen the Hindu-Muslim brotherhood. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi hoped that no fresh dispute will now arise relating to places of worship till the apex court finally settles the dispute.
Hindu side lawyers said that such a stay was normal and should not be termed as a victory for any side.
Lawyers may interpret the Supreme Court order in their own way, but the moot point is that the original character of all places of religious worship, as of August 15, 1947, shall continue to remain intact. Mosques shall continue to function and temples will also continue to exist.
After a lower court in Varanasi ordered a survey of Gyanvapi mosque, there had been a spate of similar suits relating to mosques across India. A survey ordered for Sambhal mosque came from a lower court within two hours of the petition been filed. This resulted in violence and arson in Sambhal resulting in death of five people.
Another petition was filed relating to Ajmer Khwaja Dargah by advocates Vishnu Shankar Jain and Hari Shankar Jain, who claimed that they have filed at least a dozen petitions in similar cases. Muslim petitioners then moved the Supreme Court and they got relief on Thursday.
Supreme Court will now have to finally decide the validity of Places of Worship Act, 1991, and till that time, there shall be a freeze on all such disputes. Let us hope that the Supreme Court will give its verdict so that this trend of searching for Shiv Lingams under every mosque must cease.
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