CPI(ML) moves Supreme Court in support of Places of Worship Act

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation [CPIML] has moved the Supreme Court opposing the petitions which challenge the provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991..An intervention application was filed by CPI(ML) on Friday seeking intervention in the public interest litigation (PIL) petition pending before the Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Act.Earlier, the Congress Party, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind and All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) head Asaduddin Owaisi had also filed intervention pleas in the matter..The Places of Worship Act seeks to protect the status of all religious structures as it stood on the date of independence (August 1947) by barring courts from entertaining cases which raise dispute over the character of such places of worship.The law which was introduced during the height of Ram Janmabhoomi movement seeks to protect the status of all religious structures as it stood on the date of independence by barring courts from entertaining cases which raises dispute over the character of such places of worship.The law further provides that such cases already pending in courts would stand abated.The Act, however, carved an exception for Ram-Janmabhoomi site which was the basis for courts including High Court and Supreme Court hearing that matter.Since Ayodhya land was exempt, the Supreme Court had invoked this law in 2019 while awarding the disputed site at Ayodhya to child deity Ram Lalla.The Supreme Court had, however, reaffirmed in that judgment that similar such cases cannot be entertained with respect to other sites in view of the Act..This prompted various Hindu parties to move the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the law itself.Among those who have petitioned the apex court in the matter is Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwini Upadhyay, on whose plea the Court had issued notice in 2021. His plea states that the Act allows illegal acts of invaders who took over religious places to continue for perpetuity by barring legal remedies to aggrieved Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs.In December 2024, the top court while hearing the challenge to the Places of Worship Act, directed trial courts across the country to refrain from issuing any substantive orders or conducting surveys of existing religious structures in cases challenging their religious character, until the Supreme Court decides the validity of the Act..This was in light of the fact that various Hindu parties had filed suits before civil courts laying claim to Muslim mosques on the ground that those mosques were built over ancient temples.At least 18 suits filed over four religious structures are pending before various courts across the country.These suits include those concerning the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal, the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, the Shahi Eidgah Masjid in Mathura and the Ajmer Dargah in Rajasthan. The Muslim parties have opposed the maintainability of such suits by citing the Places of Worship Act..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.