Disallowing women equal to disallowing all, says Maharashtra govt in Haji Ali matter

The state government submitted its opinion to the Bombay High Court on the issue of women entering sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali dargah. The Advocate General of Maharashtra, made a number of submissions today before a bench of V.M. Kanade and Revati Mohite Dere JJ..On the constitutional provisions involved, and the State’s role in enforcing the same, Aney said..“The role of the state is defined by its duty to make sure that law is equally applied. If we look at Article 26, the Dargah committee cannot say that according to our interpretation of our religion, preventing entry of women inside the sanctum sanctorum is tantamount to law.”.According to Article 26, any “religious denomination” has the right to establish religious institutions, and the freedom to manage the same. However, Aney submitted that one has to be careful while interpreting this right..“There is a distinction between regulation and management. A practice that is integral to any religion, without which a religion would collapse, such a practice has to be respected but a peripheral religious practice cannot be an integral part of religion.”.When V.M. Kanade J asked Aney whether the court should take a view in this matter, the Advocate General replied that,.“If something is there in the Constitution that is difficult to apply then which court but this, can take a view. It will be avoiding an issue if you do not take a view.”.Concluding his arguments, Aney said that disallowing women would violate Article 25 of the Constitution..“Preventing women from offering prayers at the sanctum sanctorum is equivalent to preventing anyone from offering prayers, which is a violation of Article 25 of the Constitution, a fundamental right..In response, the dargah’s Board said that in Saudi Arabia a separate area is demarcated for women to pray and so is the case in Delhi’s Nizammudin dargah. The Board also said that even in certain Hindu households women are not allowed inside the kitchen during menstruation..Once arguments were concluded, the court reserved judgment, and asked the parties to submit their written arguments within two weeks time.