Petition in SC to allow Muslim women be allowed to enter and offer prayer/Namaz in mosques
Delhi, April 15: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court praying that Muslim women be allowed to enter and offer prayer/Namaz in mosques.
The petition filed through advocate Ashutosh Dubey states that there is nothing in the Quran and the Hadith that requires gender segregation. It is stated that there are diverging opinions among experts in Islamic theology regarding gender segregation.
The petition has arraigned the Union government, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, the Central Wakf Council, the Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs and All India Muslim Personal Law Board as parties to the case.
The petition has been filed by a Muslim couple seeking a declaration that the prohibition on entry of Muslim women into mosques in India is illegal and unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25 and 29 of the Constitution. The petition also mentioned that in mosques where women are allowed, there are separate entrances and enclosures for worship for the two genders.
At present, women are allowed to offer prayers at mosques under the Jamaat-e-Islami and Mujahid denominations but they are barred from mosques under the predominant Sunni faction, said the petition.