The Place of Worship(Special Provisions) Act, 1991, is constitutional?

 Hello everyone, 

In my last blog, I started my blog by quoting a line as per the Supreme court of India, which was,

"Noting that historical wrongs cannot be remedied by the people taking the law into their own hands, the Supreme Court underscored the ambit of the Places of Worship Act, 1991." 

What does this line mean? It simply means that any kind of false activity done in history can not be restored by the citizens by the means of violence, which implies that the constitution of my country should equip me with enough power so that if I face or I feel that any kind of injustice is being done to me, it can be corrected by reaching the doors of court. But what if my constitution prohibits me from doing so? In the last blog I have explained the Place of Worship(Special Provisions) Act, 1991, and what does it say. In this blog, I will go ahead and try to explain to you, how this Provision snatches our fundamental rights.

Let's get started,

When this law was brought into action, the then PV Narasimha Govt, quoted that this Special provision of 1991 is brought to reduce tension in the society, because when one community claims certain land of worship as theirs, it produces communal discord in the society, so as per the stand of the Government which was led by Indian National Congress, this law was brought to eliminate the communal disharmony.  This seems to be alright as it was a good move to keep things under control for the time being.

But my question here is, can this Provision be Permanent? Because if it does then, this will violate many fundamental rules of our constitution.

1. The act of 1991 is taking away some rights from a common citizen or Institution, to reclaim the sites which belonged to them.

2. In addition, this act amounts to restrict citizens of this country from seeking justice through the courts and obtaining a Judicial Remedy.

3. The Place of Worship Act of 1991, has a cut-off date of 15th August 1947 which is arbitrary and irrational. The central government has not given a clear-cut explanation of why this date is chosen or what is the basis of this date.

4. The Provision exempts Ram Janam Bhoomi from their range but Includes Krishna Janam Bhoomi which is again beyond understanding. Because as per the Indian culture, both have the same level of respect and honor.

When the Babri Masjid conflict was at its peak,we were only told about the Ram Janam Bhoomi but the rage of the Hindu community was not against this Mosque only, but they wanted to reclaim all the three important places of worship which are,

• Ram Janam Bhoomi, Ayodhya
• Krishna Janam Bhoomi, Mathura
• Gyanvapi Mosque of Kashi

But the exemption for Ram Janam Bhoomi alone was a little suspicious.

Now let's understand the other side of this Provision,

If in case this law is withdrawn, many communities across the country can raise voices to reclaim their places which can be very chaotic and can lead to a severe disorder in the society, but at the same time, wrong doings of the Radical Islamic Invaders cannot be legalized. This legislation is intended towards the legalization of the actions of Invaders which is completely not acceptable.

In my opinion, total withdrawal of this provision is not the solution, but a balanced exemption of certain places, particularly Krishna's Birthplace of Mathura and the Temple of Kashi should be considered. Because if the Supreme court is in favor of non-violence to correct the historical wrongdoings then they should at least open the doors of the court for their own citizens regarding certain aspects.

A petition was filed recently against this provision in the supreme court, let's see what the court decides, but I wanted to make you all aware of this act because there are many more provisions that have been made in the past and are fully or partially unconstitutional, which are unknown to us. The motive behind this blog is to give a clear understanding of such provisions before any new political drama starts.

If my content adds a little educational value to your life please support me by sharing this article and please comment on how you feel about it.

THANKS FOR READING 

JAI HIND 

ALSO, READ (CLICK ON LINKS TO READ MY PREVIOUS BLOGS)

• ARTICLE 370 
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• DELHI RIOTS
• JIHADISM 
• URBAN NAXALISM
• SECULARISM 
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