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If men are allowed in place of worship, allow women too: Bombay HC
The court also said any temple or person imposing such restriction could face a six-month jail term under the Maharashtra law.
It is the fundamental right of women to enter places of worship and it is the government’s duty to protect this right, the Bombay high court said on Friday.
This prompted the Maharashtra government to assure the court that it would ensure women were not stopped from worshiping at the state’s shrines and temples.
“The government is against gender discrimination. If one section (men) is permitted to offer prayers, so must the other section (women),” acting advocate general Rohit Deo said, clarifying the state’s stand on the controversial ban on women entering the shrine of Lord Shani in Shingnapur.
“It is the fundamental right of women, and it is your (state’s) fundamental duty to protect these rights under articles 14 and 25 of the Constitution,” the court said.
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Deo said the government was committed to following the Maharashtra Hindu Places of Worship (Entry of Authorisation) Act, 1956, which prohibits discrimination between two persons. He said the state would issue circulars to all superintendents of police and district collectors about the Act’s provisions.
The statement came two days after the court rapped the state and sought an assurance that authorities would ensure women weren’t prevented from praying at any place of worship in Maharashtra. “It is your own law, you are obliged to enforce it,” the court had said on Wednesday, referring to the 1956 law.
It was hearing a PIL by activists Vidya Bal and Neelima Vartak challenging the ban on entry of women at Shani Shingnapur. The PIL stated that another activist, Trupti Desai, was not only prevented from entering the shrine but that authorities had, instead of helping her, barred her from entering the town in Ahmednagar district, calling her a threat to law and order.
Counsel for the activists, Kalyani Tulankar, said that after the controversy, the Shingnapur Devasthan Trust had stopped men from entering its shrine area, just to keep women out.
Desai said her Bhumata Ranragini Brigade will now take its campaign for gender equality to shrines across the country.
“We are preparing to go to Shani Shingnapur tomorrow. We are sure that after the HC ruling, the police will not restrict women and we will be allowed inside the sanctum,” she said.
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