[The court said that the constitutional protection of
religions applied only to those rules that are “an essential and integral part
of the religion,” without which its character would be destroyed. Because the
Quran, the sacred book of Islam, does not prohibit women from entering mosques
or tombs, the court said, the trustees of the Haji Ali Dargah Trust could not
bar women from entering the inner sanctum.]
By Geeta Anand and Suhasini Raj
 |
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Visitors at the Haji Ali
tomb, a popular Muslim religious destination, in Mumbai
last year. Credit Punit
Paranjpe/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
|
MUMBAI,
India — In a landmark ruling
that could pave the way for more rights for Muslim women in India, the Bombay
High Court on Friday ruled that the trustees of the city’s famous Haji Ali tomb
could not bar women from entering the inner sanctum.
In a 56-page ruling, the court dismissed the
trustees’ claim that they could bar women under a provision of the Indian
Constitution that gives religious groups the right to manage their own affairs.
The court said that the constitutional
protection of religions applied only to those rules that are “an essential and
integral part of the religion,” without which its character would be destroyed.
Because the Quran, the sacred book of Islam, does not prohibit women from
entering mosques or tombs, the court said, the trustees of the Haji Ali Dargah
Trust could not bar women from entering the inner sanctum.
The trust “has no right to discriminate on
the entry of women into a public place of worship under the guise of managing
the affairs of religion,” the justices wrote. They added that the state “will
have to ensure the protection of the rights of all of its citizens” against
gender discrimination.
The court order was stayed for several weeks
to allow the trustees to consider an appeal to the Supreme Court, where two
other major women’s rights petitions are currently being heard.
One challenges the right of Muslim men to
divorce their wives by uttering the word “talaq” (“I divorce you” in Arabic)
three times. The other seeks to end the exclusion of girls and women ages 10 to
50 from a sacred temple in south India.
Women’s rights groups said they hoped the court
ruling would expand rights for Muslim women and all women in the country, whose
rights have sometimes been suppressed in the name of protecting religious
traditions.
“This is a historic judgment,” said Zakia
Soman, a founder of a Muslim women’s group and one of the petitioners in the
case. “It is 70 years since Indian independence, and still women are not really
equal in our families and in our marriages.”
The Indian Constitution, in trying to balance
the rights of people of multiple religious traditions, has allowed some measure
of religious freedom. But the Constitution also tries to balance these rights
against citizens’ fundamental right to equality under the law and freedom from
gender discrimination.
Courts have interpreted these laws differently
since Indian independence in 1947.
The Bombay High Court ruling on Friday
follows a similar ruling by the same court this year ordering the state of
Maharashtra to enforce an earlier judgment allowing women to enter the sanctum
of Hindu temples. The court’s ruling followed raids by groups of women, led by
Trupti Desai, an activist who tried to force her way into the inner sanctums of
several temples.
With white domes and minarets, the Haji Ali
tomb is one of the most popular religious destinations and a landmark in
Mumbai, also known as Bombay. Located a few hundred yards off the coast and
entered via a pedestrian walkway submerged at high tide, it draws more than
30,000 visitors on a typical day, and more than 60,000 on important holidays.
In their court petition, Ms. Soman’s group,
Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, noted that women had been allowed to enter the
inner sanctum of the Haji Ali tomb until sometime in 2011, which the court
confirmed. The trustees said they had barred women to protect them from sexual
harassment and because “it is a grievous sin, as per Islam” for them to be
close to the grave of a saint.
Mohammad Ahmad Taher, the administrative
officer of the Haji Ali trust, said in a telephone interview that the trust
would have a detailed discussion within its ranks and with its lawyers before
making a decision on how to proceed.
Mr. Taher disputed the court’s finding and
said, “Never before in the history of the tomb have women ever stepped inside
the sanctum.”
Ms. Desai called the ruling “a victory over a
society and people with regressive mind-sets which have tried to keep women
oppressed socially for centuries.”
Javed Anand, who started Muslims for Secular
Democracy in 2003 to advocate for human rights in Islam, said the ruling would
have a cascading effect on other cases around India.
“This verdict will have implications for
Muslim women’s rights across India,” he said.
Geeta Anand reported from Mumbai, and
Suhasini Raj from New Delhi.