Challenge To Places Of Worship Act : Live Updates From Supreme Court Hearing
LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK
12 Dec 2024 1:18 PM IST
A Special Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan will hear at 3.30 PM today a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
The Act prohibits the conversion of the religious character of places of worship from what they were as on August 15, 1947.
The lead petition (Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India) was filed in 2020, in which the Court issued notice to the Union Government in March 2021. Later, few other similar petitions were filed challenging the statute.
The Union Government is yet to file its counter-affidavit in the matter, despite several extensions given by the Court. The Act became an focal point of public discussion recently in view of the violent events which followed the survey of the Sambhal Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh.
Follow this page for live updates from the hearing.
Live Updates
- 12 Dec 2024 1:56 PM IST
Political parties Communist Party of India (Marxist), Indian Union Muslim League, NCP (Sharad Pawar) MLA Jitendra Awhad, RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha, MP Thol Thirumavalan have sought to intervene in the matter supporting the Places of Worship Act. They argue that the Act is crucial to preserve communal harmony and the secular character of the nation. Incidents like the Sambhal violence would be averted by a strict enforcement of the Act, they state.