Place of Worship Act, 1991: What is the Place of Worship Act?

Place of Worship Act, 1991: The ongoing controversy over the Gyanwapi Mosque adjacent to the Kashi Bishwanath Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, has brought back the controversy over the Place of Worship (Special Arrangements) Act, 1991. In 1991, a group of priests from Varanasi applied to the court for permission to worship at the Gyan Vapi complex. The Allahabad High Court in 2019 stayed the ASI survey at the request of the petitioners. Let us understand what this law is and what its provisions are.

That is why discussions are going on nowadays.

Last month, a Varanasi court ordered a videography survey of the Gyanwapi mosque complex when five Hindu women applied for worship behind the west wall of the complex. The survey report was initially directed to be submitted by May 10. However, the order was delayed after it was challenged by the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board and the mosque committee. The current controversy erupted when five Hindu women demanded regular worship of Sringar Gauri and other idols inside the Gyanvapi mosque premises. The Supreme Court will hear an appeal on Tuesday, May 17, challenging the videography and survey of the management committee of the Muslim Jamaat-e-Intifada Mosque.

‘Shivling’ was found during the survey of Gyanwapi Mosque

The survey of Gyanwapi Mosque ended on 16 May. The Hindu side of the case claimed that a ‘shawl’ was found in a pool in the mosque premises during the survey. However, the Muslim side rejected the claim, saying it was a spring. The report of the three-day survey of Kashi Bishwanath-Gyanwapi Mosque premises will be submitted to Varanasi Civil Court on Tuesday. The apex court has asked the Muslim side to stay the proceedings in the case and directed not to publish the survey and its report. The mosque committee’s petition argues that the new lawsuits filed in 2021, referring to the “right to worship”, “restrained by the Place of Worship Act, 1991” and reinstate the controversy over the law. Tried.

Place of Worship Act, 1991

The Place of Worship Act, 1991, was introduced to maintain stability in religious places and to prevent communal tensions arising out of possession or possession of such places. The Place of Worship Act, 1991 seeks to ban the conversion of places of worship and to maintain the religious character of India’s independence on 15 August 1947. Section 4 (1) of the Act states: “The religious character of the place of worship exists. August 15, 1947 will remain as it was on that day. This Act will come into force on August 11. July, 1991. Section 4 (2) of the Act states that August 15, 1947 Until a lawsuit, appeal or other action is pending before a court, tribunal or other authority for changing the religious features of a place of worship, the position is that no new action will be taken. In the religion of the class. “No one will be converted.