What Is Places Of Worship Act, 1991? Will It Be Abolished? Check Mathura, Kashi Connection

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Harnath Singh today demanded the repeal of the Places Of Worship Act, 1991 claiming that it's a violation of rights equality and secularism as enshrined in the constitution. Speaking in Rajya Sabha, Singh said that the law provided that except for the Ram Janmbhoomi case, all cases related to religious places would be considered as terminated and those violating the law may face punishment up to 3 years. He said that the Places of Worship Act prohibits the legal scrutiny which is a speciality of the constitution. He said that the provisions of the law are against the rights of Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists.

Then P.V. Narasimha Rao government had enacted the law in 1991 to freeze the status of places of worship as they were on August 15, 1947. While the law was enacted in 1991, it failed to stop Hindu litigants from taking the Kashi, Mathura issues to courts. The main motive of the Act was to stop legal disputes between Hindus and Muslims over ownership of religious places including that of Mathura and Kashi. The law was even misused to stop the progress of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The legislation stipulates that the religious identity of a place of worship should remain unchanged from what it was on August 15, 1947. It prohibits individuals from converting a place of worship belonging to one religious denomination into another. The law specifies that all ongoing legal proceedings related to the alteration of a place of worship's character, pending before any court or authority on August 15, 1947, will cease when the law takes effect, and no new legal actions can be initiated. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. The 1991 Act does not apply to ancient and historical monuments, archaeological sites, and remains covered by the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958. It also excludes suits that have been conclusively settled, disputes resolved by the parties before the enactment of the 1991 Act, or cases where the conversion of a place occurred through acquiescence.