AA Edit | SC halting Sambhal survey sets a welcome precedent
It’s time the charade of surveys a section of Hindutva peddlers is using to undermine the citizen’s fundamental right to freedom of religion, which are otherwise guaranteed by Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution, is halted with immediate effect. And honouring the order of the Supreme Court last week asking the advocate commissioner to keep aside his findings of his survey of a Mughal era mosque in Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh in a sealed envelope plus its directive to the district court there not to go ahead with the proceedings should be the first step in this direction.
The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act passed by the Parliament in 1991 aims to preserve the character of all religious structures in India. Even if it preceded the monumental damage dealt to the foundations of the republic by the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the law “declared that the religious character of a place of worship existing on the 15th day of August, 1947, shall continue to be the same as it existed on that day.” The legislative intent of the law was clear to all right-thinking Indians: It did not want this nation to engage in the dangerous business of righting the wrongs of history. Participating in the discussion, Rajmohan Gandhi, then member of the Rajya Sabha, cautioned everyone that “the ringing lesson of the Mahabharata down the centuries is those who seek to right the wrongs of history with an attitude of revenge will only produce destruction and more destruction and more destruction.”
The Supreme Court, in its observations in 2022, had come up with a curious interpretation of the law, however, saying that it did not bar the determination of the religious character of places of worship. The logic still holds, though, because the character of a structure can be retained only after determining it! The Allahabad high court applied the same logic while ordering a survey of the Shahi Idgah at Mathura. At present, there are a number of surveys at various levels across the country seeking to redefine the religious character of many places of worship of Muslims.
The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition seeking stay on the order of the survey of the mosque in Sambhal, said it undermined the need to preserve peace. And the court was perhaps reading the minds of the people as peace is the precondition for progress of a country. And, too, India, where 80 of its 143-crore people survive on free food grain provided by the government, needs it more than any other nation.
There are people in this country who have discovered the value of religion as a tool to capture power and then retain it. But this nation cannot afford advocate commissioners holding survey orders received from courts blithely going about checking the religious character of places of worship across the country. It will be in the interest of peace if the apex court ponders over the 1991 Act, explains its legislative intent from its historical and current perspectives and dissuades the Hindutva peddlers and some courts from further engaging in this survey entrepreneurship. That can perhaps persuade the people to understand the ethos on which this country is built and the principles on which its Constitution is based. It’s up to the court to speak loud and clear now, and then walk the talk.