Jamiat moves SC to oppose possible action to reclaim Kashi-Mathura shrines

A Muslim scholars organisation, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind has approached the Supreme Court to oppose a plea challenging validity of a 1991 law that barred reclaiming any shrine or changing its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.

The move "will create fear in the minds of the Muslim Community with regard to their places of worship, especially in the aftermath of the Ayodhya dispute and will destroy the secular fabric of the nation," it apprehended.

In a PIL filed earlier this month, Lucknow-based Vishwa Bhadra Pujari Purohit Mahasangh questioned the validity of Section 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, saying it violated the right to practice and profess one's religion, among others.

The petition was significant as there have been demands to resume litigation on Kashi-Mathura, related to temples of Lord Shiva and Lord Krishna respectively, in Uttar Pradesh.

In an impleadment application, advocate Ejaz Maqbool said, "it is apparent that the petition seeks to indirectly target places of worship which are presently of Muslim character."

The applicant organisation contended that the allegations made in the plea was nothing but seeking a correction of historical wrongs, which was held in the recent Ayodhya case by a five-judge bench.

The present petition, which rests on the basis that Muslim invaders allegedly converted the Hindu places of worship, cannot be entertained in view of the law laid down in the Ayodhya case, it added.

"There is a list of numerous mosques which is doing the rounds on social media, alleging that the said mosques were built allegedly by destroying Hindu places of worship," it pointed out.

"Needless to say that if the present petition is entertained, it will open floodgates of litigation against countless mosques in the country and the religious divide from which the country is recovering in the aftermath of the Ayodhya dispute will only be widened," the applicant said.