Supreme Court suspends investigations into places of worship, orders center to respond

New Delhi:

Ongoing investigations into places of worship, including mosques, will be stayed, the Supreme Court said on Thursday as it began hearing petitions challenging certain provisions of the Places of Worship Act.

Among the six petitions brought before the court today, there was one filed by BJP’s Subramanian Swamy. The main petition was filed four years ago, after which the government was asked to respond, but it never did.

On the other hand, some petitions aimed to enforce the law, which prohibits taking legal action to recover a place of worship or request a change of character which prevailed on August 15, 1947.

Among those making up this camp are a number of MPs and political parties, including Jitendra Awhad of Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction and Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD, as well as the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu.

In an order that will provide relief to petitioners in other cases – many of whom had sought to challenge court-ordered investigations into mosques on the grounds that they were built over demolished Hindu temples – the lower courts were also asked not to pass any order or hear any new cases.

The directive to lower courts not to pass orders, interim or final, in pending cases includes those relating to Gyanvapi Mosque, Mathura Shahi Idgah and Sambhal Masjid; each faces claims from Hindu petitioners that the existing structure was built on what was once a Hindu temple.

The management of Gyanvapi and Shahi Idgah mosques were also present.

This pause will remain in force till the next hearing of this case – which will take place in four weeks, when the government will respond to petitions against the places of worship law – a special bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar. , and Justice KV Viswanathan said.

This issue cannot be decided until the Union government files its response, the court said.

“…the matter is pending before this court…we deem it appropriate to order that while proceedings may be instituted, no proceedings may be registered (or) any proceedings commenced until further orders of this court.”

“…in pending trials, courts cannot pass interim or final orders, including survey orders, before the next date of hearing,” the special bench headed by the judge said in chief.

The pause comes amid ongoing violence and tensions in UP’s Sambhal, following court-ordered investigations at a mosque last month; five people were killed in communal clashes. A separate bench of the Supreme Court heard this and stopped the action, ordering the mosque to move the Allahabad High Court.

READ | “I want peace and harmony”: Supreme Court stops all action against Sambhal mosque

The violence also sparked a furious political row, with the Samajwadi Party and Congress lashing out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party over another example of a mosque – in this case built in the 16th century – earmarked for demolition, saying that it had been constructed over a period of one year. temple.

READ | “What about Sandeshkhali?” BJP slams Rahul and PGV in Sambhal Row

Matters came to a head last week after district officials first stopped a delegation of Samajwadi Party MPs and then Congress’ Rahul Gandhi from visiting the families of those killed.

This could trigger a “public order” problem, they told the PS and Congress.

Dramatic scenes followed as Mr Gandhi and Ms Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, leading a delegation of Congress lawmakers, attempted to break through large police barricades. Mr Gandhi demanded to be let through in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, but the cops refused to relent.

There was also a case last week in which part of a 185-year-old mosque on the Banda-Bahraich highway was demolished. District officials said the demolished portion was illegal and new.

READ | Part of 185-year-old mosque razed in UP, authorities claim ‘encroachment’

The head of the management committee refuted this claim, pointing out that the mosque was built in 1839 and the road only in 1956. “Yet they call certain parts of the mosque ‘illegal’.”

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