Places of Worship Act

 Places of Worship Act, 1991 was passed  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 the 15th day of August, 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental there.

Section 3 of the Act bans the conversion of a place of worship or even a section of it into a place of worship of a different religious denomination or of a different segment of the same religious denomination.The Act also imposes a positive obligation on the State to maintain the religious character of every place of worship as it existed at the time of Independence.

The Act was passed in September 1991, over a year before the demolition of the Babri Masjid and had a mention in the recent Ayodhya verdict as the disputed site at Ayodhya is exempted from the Act. Due to this exemption, the trial in the Ayodhya case proceeded even after the enforcement of this law.

The Act is again in news as the Supreme Court has issued notice in a Writ Petition seeking to declare the same as unconstitutional,  void ab initio and against the Basic Structure.  Friends,  the target of this writ petition is not so innocent and has to be read along with the Sangh Pariwar slogan after Ayodhya that" ye tho keval jhaki hai, Kashi - Madhura baaki hai". 

There are around 40 thousand places of worship in India over which Sangh makes claims as erstwhile temples, so beware! 

The law kept the disputed structure at Ayodhya out of its purview, mainly because it was the subject of prolonged litigation. It was also aimed at providing scope for a possible negotiated settlement.

( Please read Subramanian Swamy' s Article " An Act of colourable legislation " in   The Hindu.)