HC seeks response on plea seeking women's entry into Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah

The petitioners, in the plea, stated that they had gone to visit the Dargah but they were prohibited from entering the sanctum sanctorum

Image courtesy: http://nizamuddinaulia.org/

New Delhi:  The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Centre and the Delhi government to respond to a plea seeking directions to allow the entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah. The court was hearing a plea seeking directions for framing of guidelines to ensure the entry of women and declare the act of prohibiting women to enter as unconstitutional. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Kameswar Rao asked the Ministries of Home Affairs, Law and Justice, the Delhi government, Delhi Police and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Trust to file the response and listed the matter for further hearing to April 11, 2019. The plea was filed by Deeba Faryal and other female law students of the Balaji Law College, Pune, who are presently in Delhi for their internship. The petitioners, in the plea, stated that they had gone to visit the Dargah but they were prohibited from entering the sanctum sanctorum. "They (law students) found out that women are not allowed inside the main Darghah or the sanctum sanctorum. All the women were allowed to do was to watch from outside how men were praying inside," said the plea filed by advocate Kamlesh Kumar Mishra. "While the entire nation is professing and advocating the entry of women in all religious institutions without any discrimination and the same having been further allowed and promoted by the Supreme Court in the recent Sabarimala judgement, women in the heart of the country and the centre of the capital are being discriminated. Their entry into the Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin is prohibited when it is just 15 minutes away from the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court," read the plea. The plea has also sought the removal of signs and display boards inside or near the Dargah displaying prohibition of entry of women.