The Bombay high court on Friday rejected a petition that sought recall of its order in which the state had assured the court that entering any place of worship is the fundamental right of women and th
The Bombay high court on Friday rejected a petition that sought recall of its order in which the state had assured the court that entering any place of worship is the fundamental right of women and the state government is duty-bound to protect their right. The HC rejected the petition on the ground that the petitioner did not have locus in the matter.
The division bench of Chief Justice of the Bombay high court D.H. Waghela and Justice M.S. Sonak rejected the intervention application filed by Sunita Patil seeking to recall the HC order passed on April 1.
The petitioner through her lawyer Subhash Jha had contended in the petition that during the hearing of a PIL challenging the ban on entry of women at Shani Shingnapur and other temples in Maharashtra, the state government had assured the court that it would implement ‘Maharashtra Hindu Places of Worship (Entry Authorisation) Act, 1956’.
The assurance was given in view that this Act would prevent gender bias, however, according to Mr Jha, the Act was passed post-Independence to prevent discrimination against dalits and people belonging to scheduled castes. If gender discrimination were the issue behind forming the Act, the legislation would have specifically mentioned ‘women’ in the Act, he said.
During hearing of the petition even the state government had opposed the petition contending the court disposed of the petition without passing any order after the government had told the court it is not gender-biased and assured it of implementing the Act and hence, there is no question of recalling the order.
