The dargah trust defended its stand saying that it is referred in Quran that allowing women close proximity to the dargah of a male saint is a grievous sin. The Trust has not barred women from entering rather it has simply regulated the same for their (women’s) safety.
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Friday’s verdict is part of a larger campaign for allowing women entry into shrines and strike down what activists say is regressive gender bias among religious leaders.
The Trust had imposed a ban on the entry of women into the inner sanctum of the Dargah in June 2012 on the grounds that the Sharia law did not permit women to be near the grave of a male Muslim saint. “Both women and men should be allowed to enter all temples across the country to offer prayer, ” she added. However, since the trust sought for time to challenge the order in the Supreme Court, the High Court stayed its order for six weeks.
A bench of justice VM Kanade and Revati Mohite-Dere said the ban was against Article 14 (equality before law), Article 15 (no discrimination on sex, gender, religion etc) and Article 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Constitution. And also for all women who are Indian citizens and this has been an injustice done to the women since 2012.
The Bombay High Court’s decision today is a boost to the nationwide movement for women to gain access to those places of worship, which have excluded them for centuries. The trust will now approach the Supreme Court, he said.
The PIL filed by Zakia Soman and Noorjehan Niaz against the restriction on the entry of women was first mentioned before Chief Justice Mohit Shah on November 7, 2014.
“HC said ban on women is unconstitutional. Its advocate Shoaib Memon argued that Article 26 of the Constitution of India confers upon the trust a fundamental right to manage its own affairs in matters of religion and as such interference is uncalled for by third agency”.
The state government had told the court that women should be barred from entering the inner sanctorum of the dargah only if it was so enshrined in the Quran. “This has been decided in the interest of women and they are close to the inner sanctorum of the tomb as far as possible”, the trustees had mentioned”.
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“There is nothing in any of the aforesaid verses which shows, that Islam does not permit entry of women at all, into a Dargah/Mosque and that their entry was sinful in Islam”.
