The Supreme Court on Monday extended the stay on women’s entry into the inner sanctum of Haji Ali dargah, reported PTI. Chief Justice TS Thakur, Justice AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud decided on extending the stay after Gopal Subramaniam, the counsel for the Haji Ali Dargah Trust, argued that the managing board of the dargah has yet to hear the case. The apex court will take up the matter again on October 24.

Its decision comes after the court had extended the stay on women’s entry into the inner sanctum, as the dargah’s managing board had said it will come out with a more “progressive stand” on the ban. In August, the Bombay High Court had lifted a ban on women’s entry into the inner sanctum of the dargah, and said that preventing women from entering the shrine was unconstitutional. However, the court had stayed the order for six weeks after the dargah's trust sought time to challenge the verdict in the apex court.

Advertisement

The high court had said the ban violated articles 14, 15, 19, and 25 of the Indian Constitution, which deal with the right to equality, the right against gender-based discrimination, freedom of movement and freedom of religion. Earlier this year, the Bombay High Court had ruled that there should be no gender discrimination as far as entering places of worship is concerned.

The Haji Ali matter was taken up by the high court after activists and the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan filed a plea seeking entry rights. The shrine’s trust had banned women from entering the mausoleum in 2011, arguing that it was a “grievous sin” in Islam for women to be in close proximity to the grave of a Muslim saint.

In April, Bhumata Ranragini Brigade leader Trupti Desai had visited the dargah, but was stopped from entering the inner sanctum. After her visit, Desai, who had earlier campaigned for women's right to enter the Shani Shingnapur Temple in Maharashtra, had said the dargah administration should relax their restriction.