Court orders Haji Ali to open its doors to women

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court struck down on Friday a ban on women’s entry into the inner sanctum of Mumbai’s iconic Haji Ali Dargah, hailed as a landmark verdict by activists fighting centuries-old tradition barring female worshippers from religious places in India.

A bench of justices VM Kanade and Revati Mohite-Dere said the ban violated women’s fundamental rights and asked the state to ensure protection for female devotees.

The bench stayed implementation of its order for 6 weeks, allowing the trust to challenge it. The trust said it will move the SC against the verdict.

Though the 600-year-old mausoleum’s history is undocumented, it is believed to be the tomb of an Islamic preacher from Iran. Located on a rocky islet a few hundred metres from the Mumbai shore, the complex is accessible through a narrow causeway during low tide.

The ban on women was imposed in 2012, with the trust saying that women’s presence near the tomb of a revered saint is “a grievous sin” in Islam. A Muslim women’s foundation petitioned the court seeking restoration of pre-2012 rules.

“The court says you have to treat everyone equally, but the Constitution also says that the right of every religion has to be protected,” Suhail Khandwani, a member of the trust said, adding

the Shariat (religious laws) prohibited women from touching the tomb. The court said the trust failed to prove Islam prevented the entry of women in places of worship and also junked the argument that the ban protected women from “sexual harassment”.

Trupti Desai, the face of a crusade against gender bias in religious places, hailed the verdict and said the next goal was to end a ban in Kerala’s Sabarimala temple.