Fri Dec 06 15:51:16 UTC 2024: ## Gyanvapi Mosque Management Defends 1991 Places of Worship Act in Supreme Court
**New Delhi, December 6, 2024** – The Gyanvapi mosque management has intervened in the Supreme Court case challenging the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991, arguing that rhetorical claims about past injustices cannot invalidate the law. In an application filed this week, the management, represented by Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Varanasi, asserted that the Act reflects Parliament’s conscious decision to prevent historical grievances from destabilizing the nation’s future.
The application cites the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict, which stated that legal recourse cannot be sought for actions of past rulers. The management contends that petitions challenging the 1991 Act, which aim to allow Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to reclaim places of worship, are based on rhetoric and not constitutional grounds. They warn that invalidating the Act would unleash a wave of similar disputes across India, undermining the rule of law and communal harmony. The management highlighted the violence that followed a survey of the Jama Masjid in Sambhal as an example of the potential consequences.
The four-year-old petitions challenging the 1991 Act are yet to be heard by the Supreme Court, despite being listed before Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna earlier this week. The Union government, despite earlier assurances, has not yet filed its counter-affidavit. The Gyanvapi mosque is at the center of multiple lawsuits filed by Hindu plaintiffs seeking the right to worship within the structure.
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