India’s controversial Places of Worship Act

India’s top court is hearing a series of petitions challenging a decades-old law that preserves the character and identity of religious sites as they existed at the time of the country’s independence in 1947.

The law, introduced in 1991, prohibits converting or altering the character of any place of worship and prevents courts from considering disputes over its status, with the exception of Babri Masjid Casewhich was explicitly exempt.

The Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque, was at the center of a long dispute that culminated in its demolition by a Hindu mob in 1992. A court verdict in 2019 gave the site to the Hindus for the construction of a temple, reigniting debates about India’s religious and secular failings.

Current petitions, including one from a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), argue that the 1991 law infringes on religious freedom and constitutional secularism.

The hearing comes against the backdrop of Hindu groups bringing cases to challenge the status of many mosquesclaiming that they were built on demolished Hindu temples.

Many, including opposition leaders and Muslim groups, have defended the law, saying it is crucial to safeguarding places of worship for religious minorities in Hindu-majority India. They also question the nature of the historical evidence presented by the petitioners in support of their claims.

They say if the law is repealed or watered down, it could open the floodgates to a host of similar challenges and inflame religious tensions, especially between Hindus and Muslims.

The Supreme Court on Thursday barred courts from registering new cases challenging the ownership of places of worship or ordering studies to establish their character and identity until further notice. The next hearing on the issue is scheduled for February.

The law says that the religious character of any place of worship (temples, mosques, churches and gurdwaras) must be maintained as it was on August 15, 1947, when India became independent.

The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 was enacted by the then Congress Party government as a movement – led by members of the Hindu nationalist BJP – to build a temple on the site of the Babri Masjid in the northern city of Ayodhya It was getting stronger. The aggressive campaign caused riots in several parts of the country and, according to some estimatesleft hundreds dead.

The violence was a painful reminder of the religious strife that India had witnessed during split in 1947.

While presenting Following the Bill in Parliament, the then Home Minister SB Chavan expressed concern over “an alarming rise in intolerance propagated by certain sections in favor of their narrow vested interests”..

These groups, he claimed, were resorting to “forced conversion” of places of worship in an attempt to create new disputes.

The BJP, then in opposition, strongly opposed the bill and some lawmakers walked out of parliament. A party MP said he believed the bill was brought to appease minorities and would only widen the gap between Hindus and Muslims.

Apart from archaeological sites, whether religious or not, the only exception to the law was the Babri Masjid, as there was a legal recourse against the structure even before independence.

However, Hindu mobs demolished the mosque just months after the law was passed. In 2019, in awarding the disputed land to Hindu groups, India’s Supreme Court said the demolition of the mosque was an illegal act.

The Supreme Court’s ruling on the law will be crucial for the fate of dozens of religious structures, especially those of Muslims, which are challenged by Hindu groups. These include Gyanvapi and Shahi Eidgah, two disputed mosques in the holy cities of Varanasi and Mathura.

Critics also point out that the historic nature of the sites will make it difficult to establish divergent claims conclusively, leaving room for bitter interfaith battles and violence.

While the hearing is closely watched, the law also makes headlines whenever there is a new development in cases challenging mosques.

Two weeks ago, a Rajasthan court issued notices to the government after admitting a petition claiming that the revered Ajmer Sharif dargah – a 13th century Sufi shrine that attracts thousands of visitors every day – was located above a Hindu temple.

And last month, four people were delicate in the town of Sambhal, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, when violence broke out during a court-ordered inspection of a 16th-century mosque. Muslim groups have challenged the survey in the Supreme Court.

There have been tensions over other previously court-ordered studies, including the Gyanvapi mosque case. Hindu groups said the 17th-century mosque was built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb on the partial ruins of the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Muslim groups opposed the survey ordered by a local court, saying it violated the 1991 law.

But in 2022, a Supreme Court bench headed by then-Chief Justice DY Chandrachud did not prevent the survey from going ahead. He also noted that the 1991 law did not prevent investigations into the status of a place of worship after August 15, 1947, as long as it did not seek to modify it.

Many have criticized this since, with former official Harsh Mander saying it “opened the floodgates for this series of court orders that go against the 1991 law.”

“If you allow the study of a mosque to determine whether there is a temple beneath it, but then prohibit actions to restore a temple on that site, this is a sure recipe for fomenting resentment, hatred and fear that could detonate for years in bitter disputes between people of different religions,” said Mr. Mander. wrote.

Thursday’s Supreme Court order means these surveys and ongoing court cases remain on hold for now.

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