After a wait of more than six months, the Bombay High Court will finally give a judgment in the Haji Ali Dargah matter on Friday.
In June 2012, an order was passed by the Haji Ali Dargah Trust prohibiting women from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the dargah. The trust said the ban is integral to Islam and women cannot be permitted to touch the tombs of male saints and it is a “sin” for women to enter the innermost part of the dargah.
The NGO, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in November 2014 against the diktat by the trust and urged the court to step in and overthrow the trust’s ruling.
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The High Court has been hearing the case since 2014. After listening to arguments made by the State government, the NGO and the trust, a Division Bench of Justice V.M. Kanade and Justice Revati Mohitedere reserved the order on February 9, 2016.
The Bench is also following the status of a PIL in the Supreme Court on the 1,500-year-old historic Sabrimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala, which has also banned the entry of women.