Women allowed to enter Haji Ali Dargah sanctum: Bombay HC
Q. Which HC permitted women to enter a Dargah sanctum sanctorum on 26th August 2016?- Published on 29 Aug 16a. Bombay
b. Calcutta
c. Madras
d. Chennai
ANSWER: Bombay
Bombay High Court on 26th August 2016 ruled women should be permitted to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali Dargah in the heart of Mumbai.
- The 15th century Dargah of the Sufi Saint Haji Ali Shah is located off an islet on the coast of Worli in South Mumbai
- Division bench of Justices VM Kanade and Revati Mohite Dere in its 56 page judgement said a ban imposed by Haji Ali Dargah on women entering the sanctum sanctorum contravene their fundamental rights and must be lifted.
- Court said ban of entry inside the Dargah sanctum violates the fundamental right to practice any religion
- Rebuking the Dargah Trust, the court said the trust had no right to discriminate against women and deny them entry into a public place of worship under the guise of “managing the affairs of religion.”
- It refused to accept the claims permitting women in close proximity to the grave of a male Muslim saint was a sin in Islam
- It also refused to accept that the ban was imposed to prevent harassment of women
- Court in its judgement also highlighted few constitutional provisions that give equal rights to all faith practitioners
- Bench asked the Dargah Trust to take effective steps like having separate queues for men and women and also said the state government is duty bound to ensure safety of women at such places.
- Judgement was passed on PIL filed by Bharaitya Muslim Mahila Andolan, a Muslim rights group based in Mumbai and several other women activists urging the court to lift restrictions imposed on entry of women in the Dargah by the Haji Ali Dargah Trust
- The founders of BMMA are Zakia Soman and Noorjehan Safia Niaz
- The Dargah Trust will now challenge the decision in the SC
- The Haji Ali Trust was the first Sufi followers in India to bar women from the spiritual tradition of shrine visitation
- In February 2016, Maharashtra government said according to the Bombay HC, women should be permitted to enter the inner sanctum till the board is able to prove the ban is part of their religious practice with reference to Quran.
- Earlier in April 2016, Bombay HC passed a similar ruling lifting the ban on women’s entry into the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.
- The Trust of the temple imposed the ban on the basis of a 400 year old tradition which proclaimed against women entering the inner sanctum of the Lord Shani temple
- The trust allowed the women to enter the temple within one week of the order of the court
