JI India urges courts to reject malicious claims on Muslim religious sites
New Delhi: Jamaat-e-Islami India has called on courts to reject malicious petitions over claims on Muslim religious sites that threaten to disturb communal harmony in India.
According to Kashmir Media Service, JI India, a prominent Muslim organisation, in a statement denounced the growing trend of politically motivated claims on religious sites, stressing for strict enforcement of the Places of Worship Act, 1991.
The organization underlined that the Places of Worship Act, was designed to preserve the status quo of religious sites as they existed on August 15, 1947, and to curb communal discord. “The law’s purpose is to maintain communal harmony by preventing disputes over historical religious claims,” it stated.
Despite this legislation, the organisation noted that false, baseless, and politically motivated claims about mosques and other religious places continue to emerge. In some cases, these claims are being pursued through court petitions, and rather than rejecting them, courts have allowed surveys and studies of Muslim places of worship.
“Courts must firmly dismiss malicious petitions designed to create division,” the organisation stated, adding that people or groups making such claims for political or financial gain should be penalized with heavy fines.
The Muslim body further cautioned that permitting such petitions risks igniting widespread unrest and division between communities. The organization also condemned the recent police firing in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, which resulted in the deaths of five Muslim youths, and called for an impartial judicial investigation into the incident and demanded accountability for that responsible.
