The Peace Party has moved to the Supreme Court, urging that a fresh plea by Hindu group Vishwa Bhadra Pujari Purohit Mahasangh shouldn’t be admitted to stoke the Kashi-Mathura temple dispute. The plea states, “Even issuance of notice in the present case will create fear in the minds of the Muslim Community concerning their places of worship and destroy the secular fabric of the nation.”
Vishwa Bhadra Pujari Purohit Mahasangh has already moved to SC challenging the validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which mandates that the character of religious places at the time of Independence can’t be changed.
The plea points out a list of various mosques doing the rounds on social media during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute case in the top court. The list claimed that the mosques were built by destroying the Hindu places of worship. It contends that plea by the Hindu group wants to start a legal battle to reclaim disputed religious sites at Kashi, Mathura and various other places. This would open the floodgates of litigation against countless mosques in the country and widen the religious divide which the country is recovering from in aftermath of the Ayodhya verdict.
The petition claims that “Places of Worship Act” is intrinsic to the obligations of a secular state to reflect India’s commitment to equality of all religions. It contends preservation of the character of places of public worship which has been mandated by Parliament and history and its wrongs can’t be used as instruments to oppress the present and the future.