India

Delhi HC seeks GoI, AAP govt, Delhi Police’s stand on PIL for women’s entry in Nizamuddin Dargah

IMAGE COURTESY: INDIAN EXPRESS

The Delhi High Court Monday sought the government of India, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the Delhi Police’s responses on the PIL seeking entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah.

The bench comprising Chief Justice of India Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao also issued a notice to the trust managing the shrine and sought their stand by April 11, 2019.

The PIL was filed by two law students from Pune. The petition claimed that a notice was put up outside the shrine built over the grave of a religious figure restricting women’s entry while they were visiting the Dargah on November 27.

The plea sought directions to the GoI, Delhi government, Delhi Police and the trust managing the shrine, to frame guidelines ensuring entry of women into the Dargah and declaring the bar as “unconstitutional”.

Recently, on September 28, the Supreme Court of India struck down against banning women of menstrual age in Kerala’s Sabarimala temple. What ensued later after the temple opened three times were intense agitations against their entry.

Earlier, the provision which banned women from entering the temple had been challenged by a number of petitions. The ban was upheld in the Kerala High Court. The HC had ruled that only the “tantri (priest)” was empowered to decide on traditions. The petitioners, including Indian Young Lawyers Association and Happy to Bleed, argued in court that the tradition is discriminatory in nature and stigmatised women, and that women should be allowed to pray at the place of their choice.

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