Reacting to the Varanasi Court order to seal the place where the Shivling was discovered during the survey of Gyanvapi mosque, Opposition leaders and academicians expressed fear that the order undermines “The Places of Worship Act, 1991”, which prohibits intervention in any religious place barring Ayodhya.
The Act mandates that the character of all religious places of worship should be maintained as it was on August 15, 1947, and no suit or proceedings shall lie in a court of law with respect to the character of places of worship. This effectively barred courts from entertaining cases that raises disputes over places of worship that existed as of August 15, 1947. The law further provided that such cases already pending at the courts would stand abated.
