Congress reached Supreme Court to save the disputed structures, supported Worship Act: A law was made in 1991 so that Hindus could not take back their places of worship

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This law has been challenged by Subramanian Swamy, Ashwini Upadhyay and other organizations on behalf of Hindus. On the other hand, All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Jamiat have filed a petition on behalf of Muslims. A new petition in this matter has been filed by Gyanvapi Mosque Committee. It says that it is also affected.

The Congress party has come out in defence of the Places of Worship Act (POWA), a law that prevents the retrieval of temples captured during Mughal and Islamic rule. It has filed a petition in the Supreme Court in support of this law. The Congress has reached the Supreme Court to become a party in the ongoing hearing on the validity of this law. The Congress has said that this law is necessary to save secularism in the country. It has said that if there is any change in the law, then the secularism of the country will be in danger.

What did the Congress say?

This petition has been filed in the Supreme Court by the Congress through its lawyers. In the petition, the Congress said, "The applicant wants to intervene in this matter to emphasize the constitutional and social importance of the Places of Worship Act as it fears that any change in it may endanger the religious unity and secularism of India and may threaten the sovereignty and integrity of the nation."

Congress further said that it wanted to protect secularism and when the law was made, it was in majority in the Lok Sabha along with the Janata Party. Congress said that since it was responsible for making the law through its MPs, it should be allowed to defend it in the Supreme Court. Congress claimed that false claims have been made in the petitions filed against this law. Congress also claimed that this does not discriminate against people of Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist religions.

“ The petition also incorrectly states that the Places of Worship Act is discriminatory as it applies only to members of Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist communities. A perusal of the Places of Worship Act clearly shows that it promotes equality among all religions and does not treat people of the religions mentioned in the petition differently. It is equally applicable to places of worship of all religions and ascertains and establishes their status as on August 15, 1947,” the Congress said in the petition.

What battle is going on in the Supreme Court?

This law has been challenged by Subramanian Swamy, Ashwini Upadhyay and other organizations on behalf of Hindus. On the other hand, All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Jamiat have filed a petition on behalf of Muslims. A new petition in this matter has been filed by Gyanvapi Mosque Committee. It says that it is also affected.

Muslims want that the petitions filed against this law be dismissed and the law be fully implemented  . They say that under the law, no Muslim religious place should be claimed now.

On the other hand, the Hindu side has said that through this law, legal recognition has been given to all those religious places whose form was changed before 1947. The Hindu side has said that sections 2, 3 and 4 of this law should be repealed. The Hindu side has said that due to the law, they cannot take back even those religious places which were destroyed by the invaders.

The Hindu side has also opposed the passing of this law in the Parliament. The Hindu side says that this is a law which prevents people from approaching the court and hence it is unconstitutional. Apart from this, the Hindu side has also raised questions on the constitutionality of the law.

The matter was heard on 12 December 2024. It was heard by the bench of CJI Sanjeev Khanna. In this hearing, the Supreme Court had ordered that now no such petition will be accepted in the courts of the country, in which the status of any religious place has been challenged. The Supreme Court had asked the central government to file an affidavit in the Places of Worship Act case.

What is the Places of Worship Act of 1991?

The Places of Worship Act, 1991 or the Places of Worship  Act, 1991 was introduced by the Congress government led by PV Narasimha Rao in 1991. Through this law, rules have been made to determine the nature of any religious place, i.e. whether it is a mosque, temple or church-gurudwara.

According to this law, the status of the religious place will remain the same as it was on the day of independence i.e. 15th August, 1947. That is, if a place was a mosque on that day, it will remain a mosque. The law states that if a person tries to change the form of a religious place, he can be imprisoned for up to 3 years.

It is stated in this law that if any person files a petition in the court for changing the nature of any religious place, then that petition will also not be accepted. That is, no person can claim a mosque to be a temple or a temple cannot be claimed to be a mosque.

It is also clearly stated in the law that even if it is proven that changes were made to the nature of a religious place in history, its form will not be changed. That is, even if it is proven that a temple was demolished in history and a mosque was built, it cannot be converted into a temple again.

Overall, this law says that whatever changes were made in any religious place before 1947 or whatever was there on that day, it will remain the same. No claim can be made on it now. The Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid dispute was exempted in this law.

Many exemptions have also been given in this law. This law says that if changes have been made in any religious place after 15 August 1947, then there can be a legal battle. Apart from this, exemption has also been given for monuments protected by ASI.

PC:AAPINDIANEWS