New Delhi: The constitutional validity of certain sections of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991 was challenged in a plea filed in the Supreme Court on Saturday stating that the said Act violated the principles of secularism.
Devkinandan Thakur, a spiritual guru from Mathura challenged the constitutional validity of Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991, stating that it offends Articles 14,15,21,25,26,29 of the Indian constitution and violates the principles of secularism and the rule of law, which is an integral part of the Preamble and basic structure of the Constitution.
The petitioner said that “Hindus are fighting for the restoration of the birthplace of Lord Krishna for hundreds of years with peaceful public agitation, but by enacting the Act, the Centre has excluded the birthplace of Lord Ram at Ayodhya but not the birthplace of Lord Krishna in Mathura, though both are the incarnations of Lord Vishnu- the creator.”
The pleas read that Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Act have taken away the right to approach the Court and thus the Right to Judicial Remedy has been closed.
Section 3 of the Act bars the conversion of places of worship by stating “No person shall convert any place of worship of any religious denomination or any section thereof into a place of worship of a different section of the same religious denomination or of a different religious denomination or any section thereof.”
Section 4 bars filing any suit or initiating any other legal proceeding for the conversion of the religious character of any place of worship, as existing on August 15, 1947.
“The Places of Worship Act 1991 is void and unconstitutional for many reasons,” the plea said, adding that it offends the right of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to pray, profess, practice, and prorogate religion (Article 25).
“The Act infringes on the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to manage, maintain and administer the places of worship and pilgrimage (Article 26),” it added.