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Fresh plea filed in SC against 1991 law on religious places

A retired army officer, Anil Kabotra said, in his plea, said a retrospective cut-off date was fixed to legalise the illegal acts of barbaric invaders
Last Updated 07 June 2022, 14:42 IST

A fresh plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991, contending that the law arbitrarily created an irrational retrospective cut-off date of August 15, 1947, for maintaining the character of the religious places.

A retired army officer, Anil Kabotra said, in his plea, said a retrospective cut-off date was fixed to legalise the illegal acts of barbaric invaders. He claimed the Act violated the principles of secularism and barred judicial review, a basic feature of the Constitution.

The plea, filed through advocate Ashwini Kumar Dubey, challenged the constitutional validity of Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991, which it said offends Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, 29.

The petition said Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs, have the right to profess, practice and propagate religion as provided in their religious scriptures and Article 13 prohibits, making a law which takes away their rights. It further claimed the right to restore back religious property is unfettered and continuing wrong and injury may be cured by judicial remedy.

Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, BJP leader Subramanium Swamy, advocate Rudra Vikram Singh, and Swami Jeetendranand Saraswati, a religious leader, are among the petitioners who have already filed petitions in the top court challenging validity of the 1991 Act.

Recently, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, a Muslim organisation, has also moved the apex court seeking to implead in the PIL filed by Upadhyay, on which notice was issued last year.

The plea added that historical wrongs cannot be remedied by the people taking the law into their own hands.

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(Published 07 June 2022, 14:41 IST)

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