SC: Trial courts not to pass orders on religious places

The Supreme Court halted legal battles over temple reclamation claims, freezing existing and barring new 'mosque-temple' lawsuits. This includes the Gyanvapi and Mathura disputes. The order stems from challenges to the 1991 Places of Worship Act, which fixed religious sites' status as of Independence Day 1947, excluding the Ayodhya case.

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Thursday put a freeze on the spate of lawsuits for reclamation of temples allegedly converted to mosques during the Mughal era and ordered trial courts across India not to entertain any fresh suit raising a 'mosque-temple' dispute. It also stopped adjudication of pending ones, including those relating to the Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath temple and Shahi Idgah-Krishna Janmasthan in Mathura. A bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan passed this order that will put a temporary lid on the raging issue, the genesis of which was the filing of petitions by religious organisations and politicians - the Hindu side challenging the validity of the Places of Worship Act , 1991, and Muslims seeking implementation of the law in letter and spirit.

Enacted by the Congress govt, the Act froze the religious character of all places of worship as on Aug 15,1947 with the exception of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .

.