PIL on entry of women into mosques adjourned in Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned for ten days hearing on a public interest suit seeking declaration that the prohibition on the entry of women in mosques was illegal and unconstitutional.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice designate Justice S.A. Bobde, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer and Justice Krishna Murari adjourned the hearing for ten days, saying, “We are adjourning it for 10 days for a different reason.”

Even as parties to the case sought four weeks to file their responses on the plea but court posted it after 10 days.

The court had in an earlier hearing said that it would be hearing the plea for the entry of women in mosques only because of its judgment in Sabarimala temple. In the last hearing of the matter on October 25, 2019, the top court had given a week’s time to the Centre, National Commission for Women (NCW), Central Waqf Council, and All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) to file their response.

A petitioner, Yasmeen Zuber Ahmed Peerzade, who had moved the top court seeking the declaration that prohibition was illegal and discriminatory has contended that women are permitted in Mecca but not in mosques in India.

The congregation of men and women in Mecca are separate. As the petitioner in the first hearing of the matter on April 16 this year had argued that the practice of not letting women enter the mosques was violative of Article 14 of the constitution guaranteeing equality before law, the top court had asked if it could be invoked by an individual against another individual — a non-state actor.

Pointing out that a violation of Article 14 could only be invoked against the state, Justice Bobde in the first hearing had questioned, “All those present in the mosque are individuals and they are not cast in concrete. Where does the state come here. Is mosque a state, is temple a state, is Church a state?”