Bombay High Court wants to know if it can hear PIL challenging Haji Ali dargah ban on women

The Bombay high court has asked Noorjehan Niaz and Zakia Soman of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan whether it can hear a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging a ban on women from entering the inner sanctum of the Haji Ali dargah.

A division bench of Justice S C Dharmadhikari and Justice S P Deshmukh posed questions to the petitioners and directed them to reply to them before the court admits the PIL for further hearing.

Advocate Raju Moray, appearing for the petitioners said, "The court has asked us to respond on whether the right to worship in a particular dargah is an essential or integral part of the religion. Further, whether the court can give directions to dargahs managed by trusts on religion or is it only limited to secular matters." The court posted the matter for further hearing on February 11.

The Haji Ali dargah stopped woman from entering the inner sanctum in 2012, which has been challenged in high court. The petition stated that gender justice is inherent in the Quran and the decision contravenes the Hadiths, which prove that there is no prohibition on women visiting graves.

The petition said the restriction "emanates from a very conservative and extremist Salafi ideology" which is against women's freedom and equality. "If such arbitrary actions of the trust are not restrained, it is not inconceivable that in the future there may be an order banning the entry of women in the Dargah complex and non-Muslims wholly," it said.