Haji Ali Dargah allows women in main area

Trust tells SC women will be treated on par with men

The Haji Ali Dargah Trust on Monday told the Supreme Court that women will be treated on a par with men in granting access to the sanctum sanctorum of Mumbai's historic shrine.

“We have already passed a resolution in this regard. We will need two weeks for some groundwork like infrastructural changes,” senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, appearing for the trust, submitted before a three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur.

“The Haji Ali Dargah Trust truely believes in complete equality between men and women,” the counsel said, adding an additional affidavit has been filed stating that the trust was willing to allow entry of women inside the shrine.

The counsel also said, “The trust does not want to take an adversarial position on the issue and wants time to resolve the matter.”

The bench, also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, granted four weeks to the trust to make changes in order to comply with the Bombay High Court order, which lifted the ban on entry of women into the shrine.

‘Major step in gender equality’

The decision to allow women into the sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali Dargah is a major step in gender equality, according to Trupti Desai, the founder-president of Bhumata Ranragini Brigade, who spearheaded the campaign to allow women in places of worship, DHNS reports from Mumbai. 

“It is a major victory for women... it is a major step in gender equality as far as allowing women in places of worship is concerned,” she said reacting to the Dargah Trust statement in the Supreme Court to grant women access to the shrine.