The Maharashtra government on Tuesday informed the Bombay high court that it was in favour of allowing women entry into the sanctum sanctorum of Haji Ali dargah.
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday informed the Bombay high court that it was in favour of allowing women entry into the sanctum sanctorum of Haji Ali dargah. The HC has reserved its judgment on the issue. The court had on February 3 asked the state government to express its opinion on the PIL challenging the decision of Haji Ali Trust to ban the entry of women in the inner sanctum of the historic dargah. Appearing before a bench of Justices V.M. Kanade and Revati Mohite Dere, the AG said unless the dargah board is able to prove that the ban is part of their religious practice with reference to the Quran, women should be allowed to enter the inner sanctum of Haji Ali.
The board said the sanctum sanctorum of the dargah houses the grave of a male saint and in Islam it is sin for women to touch a male saint and hence women are barred from touching the tomb. They also argued that the decision has been taken considering the safety of women and to protect women from “uncomfortable situations” since the dargah is very crowded. The petitioner’s lawyer Raju Moray contended that as per Haji Ali’s website, no one is buried inside the tomb and hence it is not the graveyard of a saint.
After hearing the arguments of the parties concerned, the division bench asked all the parties to submit their arguments in writing in two weeks. The HC had indicated last month that it would wait for the Supreme Court’s ruling on entry of women in the Sabarimala temple in Kerala before deciding on the plea.
A petition in the apex court has sought entry for all women and girls in the Sabarimala temple, which, as a practice, does not allow girls after attaining puberty to enter the premises. The temple, however, allows only women post-menopause.
